You made me a novelist
by Ritsu Tonks
Summary: After reading one of Usami's new, non-BL book, Misaki's head started to get filled with ideas - with Girls' Love ideas to be exact. So, after struggling with his negative thoughts, he finally starts to write the first novel. But how will that turn out? And will Usagi find out about him being a newbie author?
1. Chapter 1

**A\N:**

 **Hey guys! This story is written based on one of my reader, Shiranai Atsune's request.**

 **Thank you for the great idea!**

 **I hope you enjoy, guys! ^^ Please, leave a review. :)**

* * *

The great bestseller novelist Usami Akihiko was sitting in front of his laptop when Misaki slowly opened the door, doing his best not to disturb the author.

"Usagi-san, I'm going to work now. I'll be back by 9 or 10."

"Alright," the author glanced at him for a second, then looked back at the screen, his fingers dancing on the keyboard.

Misaki closed the door, then went to put his shoes on, and left the house. He walked down the streets towards Marukawa Publishing, the gentle breeze blew into his face.

Lately, he started to feel some kind of passion towards books. When Usagi-san released his latest book, he just read it which surprised both him and Usagi. That book wasn't about gay romance this time, but was some kind of love story with loads of plot twists which Misaki found really genius and interesting. It was about a girl, who dated a boy for a long time, but she started to have feelings for her boyfriend's sister, and as the story came to an end, said sister found it out, and started to keep distance from the girl. So, she ended up staying with the boy, forgetting about this awkward situation.

Surprisingly, Misaki enjoyed the story, and after finishing the book, his mind started to create ideas about romance. Not simply about romance, but Girls' Love. But each time an idea crossed his mind, he shook his head to get rid of it.

 _Stop making ideas about lesbians!_ he told himself.

He sighed as he entered Marukawa, heading towards the lift.

"Ah, Misaki-kun!" someone called his name. He turned just to face Aikawa. "It's so good to see you."

"Aikawa-san," Misaki smiled at her. "I thought you'd have a meeting with Usagi-san."

"Yes, but... you know, the last three chapters of his new book are still missing, so we had to put the meeting at another date," she explained, a heavy sigh escaped her mouth. "He's always so late!"

"Yes, he is," Misaki chuckled as the lift arrived at the fourth floor with a loud ding. "But I read his latest book."

"Eh?" Aikawa looked surprised. "Misaki-kun, did you really... read his book?"

Misaki and the editor stopped in the corridor, "I did. It was really interesting."

"Aw, I'm really glad to hear that!" Aikawa said with a huge, happy smile. "How did sensei react?"

"He was surprised by seeing me reading a book which was actually his," Misaki laughed. "I'm planning on reading more of his books from here on out."

"Sensei would be really happy about it for sure. I will be going now."

"Alright," Misaki waved.

Aikawa left, and Misaki headed to his department, too. Arriving, he found Kirishima-san with a strict looking man there, next to Shizuku and Ijuuin-sensei.

"Ah, Takahashi, just in time!" Kirishima said when he turned around and saw the boy. "We were discussing about us making you a helper of Ijuuin-sensei with The Kan."

"Eh?" Misaki got surprised and excited at the same time. "But why?"

"Both Shizuku and I need a hand, and I picked you, Takahashi-kun," Ijuuin smiled. "Is there a problem with that?"

"No, no, of course there isn't!" Misaki waved his hands, slightly blushing. "I would help gladly!"

"It's good to hear that," the mangaka said, then turned back to Kirishima, Shizuku and the unknown man.

"See, Yokozawa," Kirishima said with a laugh. "With Misaki's help, Kyo can finish the new book of The Kan."

"Alright, alright," said man sighed, then started his way towards the door. "Just finish it. Oh, and we should discuss about the animation, too."

"'Kay!" Kirishima said, and Yokozawa left them. Then the golden-haired guy turned towards the others. "Takahashi, when can you start?"

"A-anytime!" Misaki said in excitement.

"Great! Then I will leave the rest to Kyo and Shizuku."

* * *

Before going home, Misaki went to the nearby convenient store to buy some things he needed for the dinner.

"I'm home," he said, when he entered. "Usagi-san, I will make curry for dinner!"

Since no answer came, he put the bag down, and went upstairs to check the author if he was okay.

"Usagi-san," he entered his office, carefully, silently opening the door. "Is everything..."

He found the author sleeping in front of the laptop, head on the desk, glasses beside him.

 _Shall I wake him up?_

After a few seconds of thinking, he walked towards him, placing his palm on his shoulder, gently shaking it.

"Usagi-san!"

With a groan, the author opened his eyes, then rose from the desk, yawning.

"Ah, Misaki."

"Gosh, don't just fall asleep anywhere!" Misaki scolded him, but deep inside he understood Usagi.

"This is what an author's life looks like," Usagi yawned again, then stood up, following Misaki downstairs. "What's the menu?"

"Curry," Misaki said, packing out from the bag. "That's okay with you, isn't it?"

Usagi only nodded while pouring coffee. Misaki started to cook, and the author sat down on the violet couch, next to Suzuki-san.

"Anyway," Misaki started, "I met Aikawa-san today."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah. She said you had to pick a new date for the meeting. You should concentrate more on your work, Usagi-san!"

Usagi only chuckled in the background, "You're not an author, Misaki, you have no idea what troubles it causes to write a book."

 _…_ _what troubles it causes to write a book._ These were the only words that remained in Misaki's mind as he stood in front of the countertops, filling a pit with hot water and rice.

 _Usagi-san... You don't know that, but... lately I felt a strange passion to start and write a book. Just by living with you, and seeing you day by day, I learned everything about an author's life. And I think I could handle this._

After having a quiet dinner together, Usagi went back into his office, and Misaki as well went into his room. He sat down to his laptop, and stared at the screen before he, with racing heart and clenching stomach, opened Word.

He swallowed, took a deep breath, then licked his dried bottom lip.

 _There is a complete story in my head. All I need to do is... is to write. But..._

With a sigh, he ended up closing the program, and shut the laptop down.

 _Am I stupid?_ he sighed. _I can't even write an essay for Kamijou, why do I think I could write a book?_

* * *

"Takahashi!"

When Misaki turned around in the school corridor, he saw Toudo running after him.

"Ah, hello, Toudo!" He greeted his friend.

"Let's have a lunch together, 'kay?"

Misaki nodded, and followed Toudo to the dining hall. They took their seats, and Toudo started to talk about The Kan, and how much he waited the new book, but Misaki wasn't really listening. That Girls' Love story stuck in his mind, and he couldn't get rid of the idea, nor the thought and urge to become a Girls' Love novelist.

"Hey, Takahashi, are you with me?" Toudo waved his hand in front of Misaki's face which made him come back to reality.

"Oh, y-yeah, sorry, I was just... eerr…"

"It seemed like you were thinking about something tough," Toudo said, tilting his head to the side.

"No, it's just... emm..." Misaki stuttered. "What would you suggest someone struggling with novel ideas?"

For first, Toudo lifted his eyebrows, then he furrowed them. "Hmm... I'd write them for sure. Yeah. If I had a really good idea, and a plot, I'd definitely write it." He laughed.

"I see," Misaki nodded, then licked his lips and started to eat his lunch.

After school, Misaki, as he was walking home, though Usagi was busy with his book and meeting to pick him up, saw two girls walking in front of him, laughing and chatting. As they passed him, he looked after them, then brushed some locks away from his eyes.

 _Just like the characters I created in my mind. Should I really start to write it? There's nothing to lose after all. I give it a try, and if it turns out wrong, I will just delete the file, and no one on Earth will find out anything about it._

With a grimace at his own thoughts, he continued his way home, slowly wandering on the sideway, until he reached a bookstore. He decided to go in, and look around. There is nothing to lose, right?

He went around, looking for some Girls' Love manga or book for inspiration. He was walking among the shelves, then after a while, he gave up and looked for an employee to ask where he'd find it. As he glanced around, he found a tall, brunette guy.

"Umm… excuse me!" he called out to the guy.

"Ah, good evening!" the brunette turned around. "Can I help you?"

"Yes, umm…" Misaki quickly read the card on the guy's chest. "Yukina-san, where can I find G… Girls's Love manga?"

Asking this made Misaki embarrassed, and he blushed so deeply that the brunette instantly noticed it.

"Don't be so embarrassed!" he said. "Go to the right, and you can find them in the sixth shelf."

Misaki nodded. "Thank you very much!" The boy then started his way towards the said bookshelf, but then turned back. "Umm… C-Can you suggest me some works?"

Yukina looked down at him, and shook his head. "I'm terribly sorry, but I'm in charge with Shoujo manga." Then he looked around, and waved to a colleague of him. "Senpai, can you please show this guy the Girls' Love section, and suggest some mangas?"

The other guy nodded, then smiled at Misaki, and started his way towards that section, and Misaki followed him. When they reached the long, tall bookshelf, the guy took down some works, and showed them to the brunette.

"This one here is the bestseller, Kawada Yuri, and her first work, Paper Flowers," he started. "I personally love this one, and this was my first Girls' Love manga I've read. It's a little similar to Shoujo mangas. It's so lovely, and sparkling, and the atmosphere makes the reader wanna always read."

He chuckled as he explained the storyline, then showed the next one. "My second favourite, I've read it umm… three times, I guess. It's Murasaki Erika's Night Dance. Well, it's a little different cause there's some ecchi in it. But you can skip it, that doesn't affect the story."

Misaki nodded, listening carefully to the guy. Then the employee showed a third manga. "And here's another one. This is the one almost the every one of us read. It's Kitade Mariko's Wishes. I could say that all of us liked it. So, you can pick one."

Misaki hesitated for a moment, and looked at all the cover images, then picked the first bestseller one. He then paid for it, and left the bookstore, finally going home. As he got home, he found Usagi and Aikawa sitting on the couches across from each other, the editor still reading the story.

"I'm home," Misaki said.

"Oh, Misaki, finally," Usagi stood up. "Pack your stuff, we're leaving to abroad!"

"Usagi-san, stop joking around, and do your work properly!" Misaki sighed. Aikawa just kept on reading. Seemed like they went over this argument once or twice.

"Nah, I'm leaving," Usagi said, but Misaki stopped him.

"Hey, Aikawa-san works so hard, and she is as tired as you, so just go back, and sit down!"

Usagi was looking at Misaki for a long minute, then went back to the couch. Misaki then walked straight up into his room, and sitting down on his bed, he started to read the manga.

The story was so great that time seemed endless. When he put a bookmark at the spot he ended the story, he checked his wrist watch. It was already eleven. He yawned as he put the book on the shelf, then opened his laptop.

 _Shall I really write it?_

He bit his bottom lip as Toudo's words popped in his mind. _If I had a really good idea, and a plot, I'd definitely write it._

Misaki then opened Word, and typed the possible title he'd give his novel. The he typed 'chapter 1' under it.

 _Alright, Misaki. Now or never!_

And with that thought, he started to make his very first idea become a real novel.


	2. Chapter 2

The screaming voice of the alarm clock woke Misaki up early in the morning. It was five, and he knew he usually wakes up at this time to make breakfast for both him and Usagi, then he gets ready for school or work. But this time it was different. He turned the clock off, and closed his eyes.

When he opened his eyes again, he felt a large hand on his shoulder, and the first thing he saw was Usagi's face. He frowned, then sat up, rubbing his eyes.

"Ah, Usagi-san, good morning."

"Misaki… It's seven-forty. Why were you still sleeping?" Usagi asked.

"Eh…? Well, I had a rough… Wait!" The brunette's eyes suddenly grew wide when he realised what just Usagi said. "Is it already that late?"

He jumped out of his bed, running around the room, putting on some random clothes.

"Misaki–"

"I'm going to be late from school!" he complained as he ran down the stairs, not even noticing Usagi who followed him. "Oh, gosh, I overslept!"

"Misaki, what happened?" Usagi asked, leaning against the counter. "You have never slept over."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I'm sorry. I didn't make any breakfast, so you should go to the convenient store and get something. I promise I'll make a proper meal when I get home!"

And without any more word, Misaki grabbed his bag and left the surprised Usagi. He ran down the sidewalk, gasping, the cold air hurt his lungs. It took twenty minutes or so to reach the school, and he just made it in time. Taking his seat in the classroom, he shut his eyes for a moment.

 _I shouldn't have written for so long._

Last night, he decided to start and write. He got so carried away, that he typed four chapters, each one reaching ten thousand words, and when he checked the time, it was already three in the morning.

 _I don't wanna end up like Usagi…_

He slept through the classes which wasn't either with Miyagi or Kamijou. In lunch time, he went to eat with Toudo as usual.

"Takahashi, are you alright?" the boy asked. "You don't look well at all."

 _He won't understand…_

"Yeah, I know. I caught cold maybe," Misaki forced a laugh which his friend fortunately didn't notice. "Don't worry about me, I'm absolutely fine!"

 _But if Toudo noticed it, Usagi will definitely know why I am like a zombie. He's been going through the same for years after all._

"Take care, Takahashi, you know the teachers will kill you, if you miss classes because of a cold or something."

"Yeah…"

"But tea is always helpful," Toudo said.

Misaki just nodded, but didn't say anything. They sat across from each other, eating their lunches in peace. Exceptionally, Misaki was glad that his friend didn't start to talk about The Kan. No matter how much he loved that manga, he wasn't in the mood to chat about it. Though, he guessed that Toudo knew it.

* * *

On the way home, Misaki reminded himself that he had to make some meal, so he went to buy the necessary things. When he got home, he found Usagi-san sitting on the couch with one of his own books in his hand, the rest was around him.

"Usagi-san, don't make the house messy, I just cleaned this week."

"Sorry, I will put them back to my shelves. I just needed them, you know."

"New book?" Misaki asked as he hung his coat, and walked into the kitchen.

"Yeah, but this time I have no idea what to write about," Usagi said, then stood up, walked behind Misaki, and hugged him. "And I'm running out of Misaki lately."

"U-Usagi-san, I have to make dinner!"

"You can make it an hour later," the author simply answered, then pulled Misaki onto the couch, and laid him on it.

Misaki tried to protest, but it was useless. Usagi kissed him passionately, pushing his T-shirt up, and slid his hand through Misaki's body. Misaki gasped, and felt his cheek heated up. He still tried to push Usagi away, even though he was much stronger, and didn't budge.

"Misaki…" Usagi whisper in his ears. It made his heart race much faster.

Then Usagi slid his hand lower, while kissing the boy's ear, making him moan. Misaki stopped protesting, and gave in, though he knew it would happen one way or another. And he couldn't deny that he as well missed Usagi.

An hour later, as if nothing had happened, Usagi was sitting on the couch, trying to figure out what to write about while Misaki was cooking. Then his phone started to ring, interrupting him.

"Yes?" he picked up.

"Takahashi-kun, it's Ijuuin!"

Misaki took a quick look at Usagi who was still reading his book, so he went to out to take this call.

"I-Ijuuin-sensei…"

"I'm just calling in hope that you can jump in the next week and help me and Shizuku. We need your help."

"Y-Yeah, I think I can do that," Misaki answered. "Which day exactly?"

"Well that's something I don't know for sure. But I will call you or leave a message. Anyway, thank you for the help!" Ijuuin said, then hung up, and Misaki walked back to the kitchen, trying to act like nothing happened, but he found Usagi looking straight at him.

"That mangaka called you, didn't he?"

"Yes, but stop overthinking, alright?" Misaki scolded.

"I will if he stops calling you."

"I'm working in Marukawa, Usagi-san," Misaki sighed, turning toward the author, "and I can be charge with anyone. Kirishima-san is my boss, and he was the one asking me first to help Ijuuin-sensei. I can't say no."

"Right…" Usagi said, then walked to Misaki and squeezed him to his chest. "But I'm still afraid that he might take you away."

"S… Stupid Usagi! He won't."

* * *

Late in the night, Misaki was staring at his screen, proofreading everything he's written so far.

 _Akiyama found herself looking at a brunette girl in the library. She wasn't sure why she would do that, but it was such a pleasure to watch her every day if she picks a book or leaves the place without choosing anything._

 _She knew exactly that the girl was a stranger to her, and probably a senior, but she found peace when the other was around, even if it was just in the library, among a lot of boring books and silence. Akiyama had been watching that girl since first year, and she still didn't really know the reason why._

 _Now she was elbowing on the library desk, her eyes on the brunette that tried to pick a book from a higher shelf. She looked for a while, then decided to stand up and help her. She was taller anyway._

 _"_ _Here," Akiyama said after picking the book._

 _"_ _Thank you," the girl bowed, then turned the book to read the description._

 _"_ _Hey, what kind of books do you usually read?" Akiyama asked all of a sudden, just to start a conversation._

 _"_ _Eh?" the girl looked up at her, then frowned. "Let's see… Almost anything in general. Romance, history, anything."_

 _"_ _I see," she smiled at the brunette. "Anyways, I'm Akiyama. Akiyama Sawako!"_

 _The brunette threw a smile. "I'm Kitagawa Fumiko. I hope we get along well, senpai!"_

Misaki sighed, rubbing his temples. It was only the first chapter, but he found it a little monotonous. But for now, he left it the way it was, and scrolled to chapter four.

 _Akiyama and Kitagawa was sitting on a bench on the roof of the school._

 _"_ _Hey, Kitagawa," Akiyama turned to the brunette. "Are you in junior or senior high? It's something I wanted to ask long ago."_

 _"_ _Ah, I'm in junior, in 2B," she answered, biting her mocchi._

 _"_ _Eh? So we're in the same year, aren't we?" Akiyama lifted her eyebrows up in surprise. "I'm in 2A."_

 _"_ _Really?" Kitagawa was as well surprised, then nodded. "I thought you were a senior."_

 _"_ _I thought exactly the same about you, Kitagawa," Akiyama laughed._

Misaki scratched the back of his head, then continued typing, while drinking some kind of juice. He didn't want to go and drink coffee. Usagi would definitely question that.

While writing, he opened the Girls' Love manga he bought last time to get inspiration from that. The scene where the girls were sitting on the roof was from the manga.

 _I should go to sleep… This is my first novel, I'm not facing any deadlines though._

He yawned, then decided to write. _This time I will go to sleep earlier._

* * *

When the alarm clock rang, Misaki was still awake. He was about to fall asleep sitting in the chair. Rubbing his left eye, he clicked on the save icon, then turned the clock off. He then fall into his bed. Good thing it was Saturday, so he could sleep, and then tell a reason to Usagi. But he wished he knew why he set the clock for a weekend day.

Even in his dreams he wrote the novel, but he was nearly about to finish it. In his dream, Akiyama and Kitagawa had a huge fight, and in the end they ended up separately, knowing that they both loved each other. Then Misaki suddenly woke up, and with clenching stomach, he opened the saved file to write and write and write. He wanted that plot to happen.

An hour passed, when he was interrupted by Usagi. The author came into his room with a mug of coffee.

"Misaki, what are you typing that much?"

"An essay," Misaki lied. He felt terrible because of lying to Usagi, but he just didn't want to tell him that he was writing a novel. Not yet at least.

"Oh…" Usagi sipped his coffee. "Just tell me if you need help."

"Aright."

Then Usagi left Misaki in the room, closing the door behind him. And Misaki just kept on typing, not even stopping for a moment. And when he hit the last letter, it was already lunch time. He smiled while running his fingers through his brown locks.

 _I finished it! Oh, my, I finished it within two days!_

He saved the document, then walked down the stairs happily to heat yesterday's dinner.

"What are you smiling for, Misaki?" Usagi asked in surprise, but he as well smiled just by seeing the boy doing that.

"Oh… I'm just happy that I managed to finish the essay for Kamijou without struggling and asking for help," Misaki lied again. "He's the devil himself, so I'm glad I made it in time."

"Well, that's good, I guess," Usagi sat to the table. "I just noticed that you spend too much time on your laptop, and I was curious. But it makes sense now."

"Yeah. Essays always eat time up."

"That's right. And I thought you were writing a novel," Usagi laughed.

Misaki's eyes grew wide, and luckily he was turned towards the gas stove so Usagi didn't see it.

"W-What are you thinking?" he forced a laugh. "Me, writing a novel?"

"Sorry, I think I'm way too much into writing, so that's probably why I thought that."

Misaki bit his bottom lip, and shut his eyes for a moment. He knew Usagi was just joking around, but it was still scary. Did he really think that he was writing a novel?

 _Nah, he was probably playing around._

When he heated up the meal, they started to eat together.

"We should go to the amusement park next week, so I can find something to give me idea for my next story," Usagi suggested.

"Okay," Misaki nodded. "But next week I have some work, so we should talk about it more, you know."

"Will you work with Ijuuin?"

"Yeah," Misaki answered. "Don't overthink it, Usagi-san."

"I'll try my best."

* * *

 **A\N:**

 **Hey guys! Here's the next chapter. Thank you for following, favouriting and reviewing! It means a lot! :3 Please keep leaving comments cause I wanna know what you think about my story!**


	3. Chapter 3

With racing heart that beat crazily fast, Misaki stood in front of the huge building of Marukawa that now rose above him strictly. His face and palms sweated as he kept his left hand on his clenching stomach, swallowing. His whole body shook because of nervousness and excitement.

A few days ago, he e-mailed the story. It was the first novel, so he decided to let the romance plot being innocent. He used a pen name, Asakura Toshio, and hoped that no one on Earth would find out it was him. The rational part of his mind scolded him and told him to not think silly things and why anyone would know about him when he was anonymous. The typical 'Misaki' part of his mind which was the paranoid part was absolute sure that the whole Marukawa already knew.

Misaki shook his head, and headed into the building, taking the lift that took him to the fourth floor. Then he went to Japun department, and took his usual seat.

"Takahashi-kun!"

 _THEY KNOW IT!_

"Y-Yes?"

When he turned around, he saw Ijuuin, Shizuku, and Kirishima walking toward him, the mangaka smiled suspiciously.

 _Ijuuin-sensei knows it! He definitely does! He thinks I'm stupid. Gosh._

"G-Good morning, sensei!" Misaki formally greeted the mangaka, then turned toward his boss and the black-haired guy. "Kirishima-san, Shizuku-san, good morning."

"Good morning, Takahashi," Kirishima smiled at him. "We're here to talk to you. You know, we decided to make you a helper of Ijuuin-sensei, so your help would be useful."

"A-Alright!"

Misaki let out a heavy sigh inside. _Oh… They don't know. Thank god!_

"So, I need you to come to my place on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Is that okay with you?" Ijuuin said, still smiling. Misaki tried his best to get rid of those silly thoughts. There's no way Ijuuin would know it, is there?

"Of course I can, sensei!" Misaki replied. "I will be there then."

"That's good. I have to go back to my office, but Shizuku will tell you the other details."

Ijuiin, with a wave, left, and Shizuku took a step toward Misaki.

"So, you know how manga editing works, don't you?" he asked. Misaki felt like he was looking down on him.

"Sort of, yes."

"Typesetting is what we need you to do. The others will do the rest. And maybe you will have to bring some food if you run out of work. It's always rough, but we can do it. Got it?"

"Yes," Misaki blinked.

"Then that's all I guess. If there's anything you don't understand, just ask me or anyone. See ya!"

After Shizuku walked out of the department, Misaki sank into his chair, letting out the sigh that wanted to come out so bad.

 _Why am I thinking this over? Stop this, no one on Earth would know that Asakura Toshio with a Girls' Love novel is me._

* * *

Later that day, Misaki was carrying some documents to the fifth floor, and he was waiting for the lift when Aikawa touched his shoulder.

"Good afternoon, Misaki-kun!" she greeted as happily as usual. "How's everything going?"

"Ah, Aikawa-san! Everything's good."

"Great, great. It seems that Usami-sensei's book will be a bestseller again. He keeps on winning and winning."

She chuckled as they got into the lift. Misaki glanced at the red-haired woman next to him.

 _Aikawa-san could give me advices, and she would definitely keep my secret. Shall I talk to her about it or not? I'm so confused…_

"Misaki-kun, are you alright?"

"Eh?"

The lift arrived to the fifth floor with a ding, and they got out, Aikawa frowning, looking at Misaki.

"I don't know… You were looking at me with a strange expression. Is something wrong?" she asked.

Misaki turned his head down, licking his lip as he fell deep into his thoughts. Sometimes thinking about rough things makes you look obvious.

 _Should I or not?_

"If there's something, you can tell me, I'm listening," Aikawa said, stepping closer to the boy who now looked at her again.

"Ah, t-thank you, Aikawa-san!" Misaki laughed nervously. "But there's nothing wrong, really."

"Oh, okay," Aikawa smiled. "Then I was wrong. Well, see you later, Misaki-kun!"

Misaki watched her walking away, turned around after, and headed where he had to, but then turned back and called out.

"Aikawa-san!"

The woman turned around, and Misaki ran toward her. "I need to talk to you about something."

"Eh? Alright, we can talk. Now I have a meeting, but…" she checked her wrist watch, "come to the meeting room on the third floor. We can talk there, okay? I'll be there in two hours."

Misaki nodded with a smiled and let the woman go to her meeting, and he headed again towards the place he had to take the documents.

 _I hope that she can help me somehow._

Two hours later, Misaki was sitting in the meeting room, and soon, Aikawa came in, smiling at him.

"Sorry for the wait!"

"It's nothing," Misaki replied, and Aikawa took a seat.

"Okay. So, what do you wanna talk about? I hope it isn't about Usami-sensei. He didn't cause any trouble, did he?"

Misaki laughed at this, "No he didn't, and it's not about him. It's about me, and I didn't really know who to run to, but… I know you since I live with Usagi-san, and you seem trustful, Aikawa-san."

The woman chuckled, and her face was slightly pink by Misaki's words. "Alright. How can I help you, Misaki-kun?"

Misaki swallowed, palms sweating. "Since I read Usagi-san's latest book, I… I keep thinking about Girls' Love, and…"

"Wow, it's strange," Aikawa blinked when Misaki stopped for a moment. "I know in his latest book there were a slight sign of lesbian love, but did that affect you that much?"

"Yeah," Misaki nodded, then drew a deep breath. "It affected me so much that I started to create Girls' Love ideas in my mind."

The woman frowned, then burst out laughing. "Misaki-kun, you're a lover of a man, and you're thinking about lesbians? Usami-sensei wouldn't be happy about that!"

"Aikawa-san, please stop joking around!" Misaki scolded gently, but she was still laughing.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Aikawa apologised. "But it's serious, though."

"Yeah, but they aren't only ideas. They are also a strong urge for me to… to…"

"To what, Misaki-kun?"

"To write a novel about them," Misaki finally spit it out, and shut his eyes wide since he wasn't sure how Aikawa would react.

There was an awkward silence between them, and the brunette could feel the woman's gaze on him, but he didn't want to open his eyes. Then Aikawa finally started to speak.

"That's… a strong affect." She sat back in the chair, frowning. "And… Are you willing to write it?"

"I already did. Actually, I wrote ten chapter within two days, and I e-mailed it to Marukawa's Girls' Love department."

"What? You must've call me, and I could've proofread it for you!" Aikawa almost shouted, and Misaki got afraid for a moment.

"I-I'm sorry…"

Aikawa sighed. "I guess it doesn't matter now. I wonder who your editor will be. The Girls' Love department has loads of great editors, so don't worry. But you should've still call me."

"I'm sorry, Aikawa-san," Misaki apologised. "I thought you have enough problems with Usagi-san."

"That's right, but and editor's job is to always be there for the authors," Aikawa replied. "But I'm surprised, Misaki-kun! You really wrote a novel! Does Usagi-san know it?"

"No," Misaki shook his head. "He doesn't know it, and please, don't tell him! He would definitely make fun of me."

Aikawa crossed his arms, eyebrows lifted. "Make fun of you? Okay, sometimes sensei say rough things, and likes to tease people, but if he knew you wrote a novel, I'm sure he wouldn't do that. Actually, he would be a huge help for you."

"Help?"

"Yeah," Aikawa nodded. "He's the publisher's best, and a really acknowledged author in Japan, so if he would give you just a little help, you would start as a great one for sure!"

"But I don't want to be successful because a great author, especially Usagi-san helped me. I wanna be great on my own," Misaki said, turning his head down.

 _But I still think he would make fun of me…_

"I understand your point, but I still think that it would be great if you told him," Aikawa threw a smile. "Well, first we shall see how your first novel will turn out. Can I see it? I'm okay with just a little part of the story."

"Yeah, I will e-mail it to you."

"Why would you e-mail it to me? I will bring my laptop from the department, and you can show me!"

* * *

It took a little while, but Aikawa came back with her laptop. Then she slid it to Misaki, and the brunette logged into his e-mails, looking for the sent messages.

"Ah, here it is."

He clicked on the download button, and when that was done, he opened it. Aikawa started to give it a quick proofread, and an hour later, she leaned against the backrest of the chair.

"It's a great story, Misaki-kun, but I miss the twist," she spoke, scratching her head. "I mean, okay, they confessed, then fought and said goodbye to each other, but it ended easily. If they love each other, they should at least fight for each other, or at least one of them should've done that. It's just… going then ends."

"Oh…"

"Don't get me wrong!" Aikawa waved with her hands. "The concept is great, the way you wanted to write the story is great, but… it's just not enough. Maybe I'm reading too much of Usami-sensei's Boys' Love, but I miss those dynamic actions, like… like anything that creates excitement, you know. Your novel is too simple."

"Too simple?" Misaki frowned, scratching the back of his head.

"Yes. Like they meet, become friends, then fight and leave each other. The only thing that makes the reader excited or nervous or have a bunch of questions is that why they didn't talk it over and get back together," Aikawa explained, then turned to Misaki. "I hope you understand my point here. Just work on it a little more. I'm sure the editor you're going to get will tell you the same. I just prepare you, Misaki-kun."

"Yeah, of course I understand, and thank you for the advice!" the brunette smiled at the editor.

"Anytime, Misaki-kun. If you need anything or have a question, just contact me, okay?"

Misaki nodded. A minute later, they left the meeting room, and it was getting dark outside, so Misaki thought he better hurry up and go home. Just when he was putting his coat on, his phone rang. It was from Usagi.

"Yes? I'm on my way, Usagi-san, don't worry."

"Why are you so late, Misaki?" the author asked from the other end of the line. "You're usually home by this time."

"Nah, I just… I just had a lot of work to do. So much, that I didn't even realised what time it is," he said, forcing a laugh.

"Alright. Just take care on your way home, okay?"

* * *

It was almost midnight, when Misaki was sitting in his chair, staring at the screen. After getting home, he prepared a quick meal, then scolded Usagi for not wanting to do his work. And now, he was on his laptop, waiting for an answer, though he guessed that they wouldn't answer this quick. But when he refreshed the page and got a message from Marukawa.

Indeed, he got an editor that said the same things as Aikawa. She told him to put some more into the story and it's going to be great. For a moment Misaki became a little sad, but his motivation came back soon, so he opened the document, and started to proofread, then fill it with the missing things.

 _So, I need to change things, and put things into it, right? Especially the end of this is what is missing._

He took a deep breathe, then started to type.

 _Akiyama was telling Kitagawa about her family: that how amazing it was, and how much fun they have together. Kitagawa was listening with a smile, then that smile became sadder with every said word, and Akiyama noticed it._

 _"_ _Are you alright?" Akiyama asked, placing her hand on the brunette's shoulder._

 _"_ _Yeah, I just…"_

 _"_ _What?"_

 _"_ _I wish I had a great family, like you do, senpai," she whispered. The smile that curled on her face vanished, and a sad expression replaced it._

 _"_ _What's wrong with yours?" Akiyama asked, getting more and more nervous. "Do they hurt you?"_

 _Kitagawa was silent for a moment, then nodded._

 _"_ _I was ten when I realised that I was… I was a lesbian," she started, not looking at the other. "I wanted to tell them, and when I did, my father left us right after, and my mother hit me in the face."_

 _"_ _What?"_

 _Kitagawa now looked up at Akiyama, eyes filled with tears. "I didn't know it was wrong."_

 _Akiyama's eyes grew wide as she faced the crying brunette. She then hugged him, trying to comfort the girl. Meanwhile, her heart was racing just by having the other in her arms._

 _"_ _It's not wrong," she said when she finally let go of her, and she could wipe away her tears. "Actually, I'm myself a lesbian as well."_

Misaki scratched his forehead, smiling at the screen. He couldn't believe he would be able to write something like that. He kept on typing and typing, until he felt like he filled every hole in the story, so he scrolled down to the last chapter, where Akiyama and Kitagawa were fighting.

 _Akiyama was sitting on the couch even hours after Kitagawa left. She didn't cry; she just sat there, staring into space. Her mind was blank. But suddenly, thoughts, questions and memories from minutes ago filled it, and she held onto her head._

 _"_ _What the hell did I just say to her?" she whispered to herself, curling onto the bed._

 _She gasped for air. She was mad; mad at her own self for everything she'd done to Kitagawa. She so wanted to rewind every single thing._

 _"_ _I need to call her…"_

 _She dialled the number, and with tears flowing down on her cheek, she lifted the phone to her ears. When Kitagawa finally picked up, Akiyama didn't know what to say._

 _"_ _What?"_

 _"_ _I… Kitagawa… I-I'm sorry. I'm so, so, so sorry!"_

 _"_ _Akiyama…" She could hear Kitagawa crying. "I haven't gone anywhere. I-I'm in front of your house, and…"_

 _Before she could finish her sentence, Akiyama ran out, and saw the girl sitting in front of the house gate, holding the phone. When she saw Akiyama, she stood up, and Akiyama ran toward her._

 _"_ _I was hoping that you would call me, Akiyama-senpai!"_

 _She was standing in front of her for a second, then she just hugged her tightly, then kissed her on her lips, not caring about who would see them. Kitagawa wrapped her arm around Akiyama's neck, kissing back softly and deeply as if that was the last thing in their lives._

 _The suns shone brightly upon them, and they were looking into their each other's shining eyes. It was needless to say anything because they knew exactly how the other felt. The heartthrobs, the gentle breeze that made their hair fly in the June afternoon was enough to spread their feelings all over the whole world._

* * *

 **A\N:**

 **Wow... I updated this quick, yaaay! :D I don't know, if i start to write, I finish it quickly and easily. I'm glad.**

 **So, I hope you like my story so far, and you liked this chapter. Huge thanks for the reviews, follows and favs! Means a lot guys! I will try and keep update often.**


	4. Chapter 4

Misaki yawned loudly as he was walking down the stairs. Last night, when he filled his story, he e-mailed it back to his editor, hoping that there wouldn't be anything wrong about the story. He hadn't gotten any answer though, but he understood it; he e-mailed it late in the night, so his editor didn't start to work on it yet.

 _I'm starting to be like Usagi-san… staying up all night._

He opened the fridge, looking for anything to make breakfast of. He found. He started to make breakfast, when he heard footsteps, and Usagi came down with a big teddy under his arm.

"Good morning," he greeted sleepily.

"Good morning, Usagi-san," Misaki said, trying to hide his sleepiness. It didn't work.

"Misaki…"

"Huh?"

Usagi took a few steps closer, and when Misaki turned toward him, his arms were crossed. Misaki frowned a little.

"You were up all night again, weren't you?" the author asked, looking straight into the brunette's eyes, making him froze.

"What…?"

"The circles under your eyes show it. It's been days since you started to stay up."

"I… uh…"

"I'm sure I asked this before…. if it's just that you're doing homework, but I'm sure that even Kamijou isn't that evil to give you this much homework to get done. So, what are you always typing on your laptop?"

Misaki knew it's the end. He had to tell. He had to tell Usagi that he was working on a Girls' Love novel, and it's sure as hell that Usagi would laugh on him. Laugh and say that he wasn't good enough to be an editor.

"Uhmm… I-I just…"

Usagi now took a step closer, and he was so close that Misaki could feel his breath on his own skin. He looked him in the eyes again, and he looked a little scary this time.

"Are you exchanging e-mails with _that_ mangaka?" he asked, and Misaki thought he would faint in any second.

"Huh?" was all he could say. His legs shook, and he was ironically relieved.

"You're exchanging e-mails with Ijuuin, huh?" Usagi asked again, still looking at Misaki.

"N-No, Usagi-san! Of course I'm not!" Misaki protested. "He's a busy person, just like you. I can't just exchange e-mails with him anytime."

His answer seemed to satisfy Usagi because the author leaned away a little, but then he hugged Misaki tight.

"I'm so glad… But then what are you always up to, late in the night?"

Misaki swallowed as he was trying to find an acceptable reason for that. But he couldn't. He just didn't know what to say. He felt as if the whole world would collapse around him.

"Usagi-san, I… I can explain."

"Then explain it. When I thought it was because of _that_ mangaka, I was so jealous that it nearly drove me crazy."

"I…" Misaki was really panicking, his heart almost beat out of his chest. But then, he found an answer. He felt bad because he had to lie to Usagi, but right now, it was the sanest thing he could do. He couldn't tell the author about his novel. Not just yet. "I'm having insomnia."

Usagi let go of him, his facial expression changed from serious to emphatic and surprised. "Insomnia?"

"Y-Yeah. I just can't sleep these days."

For a second, Usagi seemed to doubt it, but then, he nodded. "You should've just come to my room and sleep with me then."

"I…" Misaki licked his bottom lip. "I didn't wanna bother you."

"But you still have to sleep with me tonight."

* * *

Usagi went back to work on his new book, and Misaki as well went into his room, checking his e-mails. He got an answer from his editor.

 _Filling the holes was just one of the things the book requires. Your grammar is not appropriate for a high quality novel. But this is why I am your editor; to correct these grammatical errors. I made some corrections, please, check them. Then send it back to me. We need to fix everything before publishing, Mr. Asakura._

Under the message, there was the correction so far attached. Misaki downloaded it to his laptop and started to check them. When he first finished the novel, and e-mailed it, he asked his editor not to meet, and exchange e-mails instead. If he was out too much, it would be suspicious. And Usagi was already suspecting. His editor suggested the meetings, but after some messages, she gave in. It meant a lot to Misaki.

It took hours for Misaki to finish the correction, and send it back to his editor. He then sat back in his seat, his eyes got wet from sleepiness. He rubbed them, then walked down to the kitchen. Checking the clock, it showed 5pm.

 _Time passes fast,_ Misaki sighed.

He walked to the fridge, and seeing that there was almost nothing in it, he went to the nearby convenient store to grab some things and make food. Getting home, he made dinner, and when Usagi came down, he sat down to the table, eating slowly. He was clearly worn down.

"U-Usagi-san… Are you alright?"

"Misaki, sleep with me," said Usagi without answering the boy's question.

"Eh?"

"I miss you from my bed, Misaki," Usagi almost whispered. Even his voice was exhausted.

"I…"

"Just sleep. I'm too tired to do anything else. But I wanna feel your existence next to me."

Misaki hesitated, sighed. "Alright, I will sleep with you."

Usagi gave a smile, then finished his dinner. Meanwhile, his phone rang, and Misaki looked at him, blinking. "Won't you answer it?"

"Nah. It's just Aikawa."

"Then you should answer it!" Misaki scolded.

"I don't want to."

Misaki stood up, walked next to Usagi, and grabbed the phone. "Then I will. Yes?"

"MISAKI, WHERE ARE THE MANUSCRIPTS? WHERE IS USAMI-SENSEI?"

Usagi took his phone back and ended the line.

"Usagi-san, what are you doing? Are you causing trouble to Aikawa-san again?"

"Nah, she's the one causing trouble to me!" Usagi replied, rubbing his temples. "The deadline is almost here, and I still have two chapters to finish."

"But… Usagi-san, you're a genius writer, you can finish it in no time," Misaki sighed again. "Go back, and write that novel, then take a bath and go to sleep. I will be in your room soon."

Usagi looked a little surprised since Misaki never told him something like that before. The only thing he could do was nodding his head, then he grabbed the huge teddy bear he came with, and walked back into his room. Misaki looked after him for a moment, then he as well finished his dinner. After that, he went to take a quick shower, so he could check on his e-mails before Usagi finishes that two remained chapters of his book.

When Misaki was about to come out of the bathroom, Usagi just came in, and without a word, he pulled Misaki back under the shower.

"Hey, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Misaki asked while trying to get away.

"I wanna take a shower with you," Usagi replied simply. Misaki knew it won't be a regular showering, no matter how tired Usagi was. He always had energy for doing such things.

* * *

They just did it in the bathroom, and that was the last Usagi could do that day. He was loud asleep next to Misaki, and the brunette was watching him, and smiled.

 _How should I tell him?_

He grabbed his phone, seeing that he got two new e-mails. One was from his editor, and it said:

 _We really should meet, Asakura-sensei! There are a few things we need to discuss, and it won't work through e-mails. I know a hidden place in the suburb of Tokyo. If it's okay with you, I will send the location in another e-mail. But we really need to meet. Please._

Misaki licked his lip. What will he say to Usagi?

 _Yes, it seems like we really need to meet. Please, send me the location of that place._

He sighed, then checked the next e-mail, and immediately turned the phone's screen away when he saw the name Ijuuin-sensei. What did he want this late? Misaki opened the e-mail, and read it.

 _Takahashi-kun, I need your help for two day next week. Is that okay with you?_

The brunette started to think. This day was a Sunday. He would meet his editor maybe tomorrow. He started to write a reply.

 _Which two days?_

He just sent it, and immediately got an answer.

 _Wednesday and Friday._

Misaki let out a heavy sigh. So he's going to be extra busy next week.

 _Alright, I will be there, sensei._

He put the phone down, and fell asleep.

* * *

The next day Misaki said he would be busy all day, so he wouldn't be home. Usagi just asked if he would be with Ijuuin, and when Misaki said no, he seemed to calm down.

"Alright. Should I take you there with my car?"

Misaki froze for a second, then got himself together. "No, it's fine. You just stay here and wait for Aikawa-san to come and check your novel."

"Who are you, my mother?" Usagi asked with a little sarcasm in his voice.

"Just said."

With that, Misaki left the house. He got the location of a certain restaurant from his editor. He had to take a metro and a bus to get there.

To be completely honest, he was pretty nervous. It was the first time for him meeting his editor, and he didn't know what he should expect – the only thing he knew was that she was a woman. But since they never saw each other, he didn't know how he would recognise her, and vice versa, so it made him a little anxious.

It took nearly two hours to get to that really hidden place. The restaurant was among some huge buildings, almost not visible. He stepped in, and looked around. Then he grabbed his phone, and sent an e-mail: _I just came in._

At a table in the corner, a skinny, young woman stood up and waved toward Misaki. He gulped then walked there.

"Asakura Toshio-sensei, isn't it?" she said, her voice was playful, and she seemed to be that 'always-happy' kind of person. She was a little bit like Aikawa-san.

She wasn't that tall, but she wore high-heels with jeans and a blue sweater. She had her long black hair tied up.

"Y-Yes, that is me," Misaki replied when he took a seat in front of the editor.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Fujioka Maiko!" she bowed, then sat down. "So, first can I have a pretty personal question? I mean… maybe more personal questions."

Misaki blinked. "Sure."

"Okay, so… Your name, Asakura Toshio… Is this your real name or a pen name?"

The brunette blushed. "P-Pen name."

"Woah, I knew it!" she said, and with her sparkling eyes, she looked like a child.

Misaki was shocked. "H-H-How did you know?" he stuttered.

"I don't know," she put his hand on her chin. "Lucky guess."

Misaki didn't know what to say or think. His mind was almost blank, and this woman seemed to be too energetic for him to stand her.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" she then said. "My second question is… What is your age? I'm thirty, and I thought you might be in the same age as me, and I'm sorry for saying that, but you look much younger."

Misaki's face went even redder than it was before. "I-I'm twenty-two."

"Then you are really younger than me," the woman said, blinking with her huge blue eyes. Misaki just nodded his head. "But it doesn't matter. As long as I am your editor, I have to, and I will definitely give you the respect you need, sensei."

She gave a warm smile, and it made Misaki smile as well. No one ever said something like that to him, and it made him feel really happy. But at the same time, it felt a little strange that, as a beginner novelist, he was standing above an older person.

"Okay, let's talk about your novel," said the editor, then she pulled loads of papers out of her bag. And she blushed. "Err– Since I forgot to tell you to print the manuscript, I did it myself. Hope you don't mind!"

"No, it's okay," Misaki waved with his hands.

The woman smiled, and put the papers down. "So, right in the first page we need to correct that part, where Akiyama breaks up with her girlfriend. I think you could write it a little… umm… dramatic! I mean," she patted on her face with a red ballpoint pen, "I'm sure the girl that loved her so much won't let her go this easy."

"Yeah, but I just wanted to spare time," Misaki said, looking at the first page.

Fujioka sighed. "I understand that, sensei, but look… sparing time in a novel means skipping the unnecessary parts. Like superfluous scenes. And this right here is definitely necessary! I mean, it's Akiyama's point of view, not Kitagawa's, so you can add a little more, like break ups, and etcetera."

Misaki scratched the back of his head, looking at his editor with admiration. He never thought about something like that. And she was totally right. Aikawa-san was also right; there really are so many amazing editors at Marukawa.

"See, sensei? This is why meetings are necessary!" she grinned. "The next scene, right after the breakup, where you introduce Akiyama's family… well, this is an unnecessary part."

"Eh?" Misaki lifted his eyebrows. "Why?"

"Because this scene plays in the school, so why would anyone care about her brother, and father and mother? You can add this part to the scene where she goes home."

* * *

It was late afternoon, when Misaki got home, and found Usagi sleeping on the couch. No corrected manuscripts meant that Aikawa-san took them. So, he managed to finish writing that novel.

 _I wonder when I will manage to get my novel done._

Fujioka was talking for three hours straight, and meanwhile, they ordered some coffee and food. She made a bunch of corrections, and Misaki felt tired just from imagining himself sitting with his laptop, correcting all these mistakes.

He sighed, and went to the couch. "Usagi-san, I'm home. Wake up!"

Usagi opened his eyes with a groan, and looked up at the boy. "Oh, Misaki…"

"Sleep in your bed," Misaki said, and Usagi just smiled.

"But you have to come with me."

"Okay, okay, just go already!"

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Hey guys! I'm so so so sorry for not updating, but I was quite busy with school. But now here's the new chapter. I hope you like it, and thank you for favouriting, following and reviewing. ^_^**

 _ **Ricchan**_


	5. Chapter 5

**A** **/N: Hey guys! I'm sooo terribly sorry for not updating. How long has it been? 3 months? I don't know, but it's been a while, and I apologise, guys. TwT Uni took over my life (what is even life?), and besides, I had no idea how to go on with the story, but now I managed to get it done, and I think this chapter is (though it's suuuper short) exciting. Let me know what you think about it, and I hope you find it exciting as well as me! Thank you for the follow, fav and reviews and of course your patience!**

* * *

Kisses on the neck, kisses on the lips, kisses on the whole body.

The night Misaki spent with Usagi after a few weeks had an impact on him. Everything that happened between the two of them appeared in the boy's dream with his novel's characters. When he opened his eyes the next morning, he already had the whole plot in his head for the next novel, but he soon reminded himself that he had to get the recent one done.

When he heard Usagi's groan, he turned toward him with a smile.

 _I wonder how I would be able to tell him…_

His eyelids slowly closed, and he almost fell asleep when his phone just woke him up, freaking the hell out of him. He quickly picked it up, not wanting Usagi to wake up.

"Yes?"

"It's Fu-ji-o-ka!" the woman on the other side of the line said, her voice sounded as cheerful as last time. "Sorry if I woke you up, but as your editor, it's my duty to check up on you, Asakura-sensei!"

Misaki rubbed his eyes and walked out of the room to talk.

"Yes, thank you, Fujioka-san," he said. "I corrected most of the mistakes, but I still need some time."

"I know, but hurry up, please because we still have a lot of work with that book. And umm…"

"What is it?"

"I talked to Aikawa-san after I got back to Marukawa. He said you managed to write the novel in only two days."

"That's right."

"Sensei…" Fujioka started with a sigh. "Two days are tooooootally not enough to write a novel."

Misaki just blinked. He wrote it in two days. Then why wouldn't it be enough?

"Ah, let me explain," she said quickly, as if she just heard Misaki's thoughts. "You may be able to write it in two days, but the whole story was a little inapprehensible, and everything happened so fast that a reader would throw it away, believe me. You didn't really put as much effort into it as the novel deserves."

Misaki clenched his fist. He hadn't thought about it before.

"And it seems that you wanted to say so many things that the whole story became a chaos."

"So…" Misaki started, scratching the back of his head. "So it means I kind of screwed it up."

"Yeah," Fujioka laughed, then coughed and changed her tone. "But seriously, sensei, correct those mistakes, then show it to me once again. Let's make this novel the best Girls' Love at Marukawa!"

With that, the editor hung up, leaving Misaki smiling at the phone screen. He then sat down, staring into space. His thoughts were all about the plot and the novel, and he accepted the fact that two days wasn't enough for writing it but totally screwing a good book up, and it made him a little sad but motivated at the same time.

 _I need to work on it hard._

When he stood up and walked towards the stairs, Usagi grabbed his arms. He didn't even notice the man until then.

"Ah, Usagi-san… You woke up?"

"I've been awaken for a while," he replied, looking at Misaki kind of furiously. "So… Who's that Fujioka?"

Misaki's eyes grew wide as he faced the man in front of him, his heart raced fast. His mind went blank for a moment, and he didn't know how we would get himself together. Usagi was patiently staring at him, waiting for an answer, an explanation that Misaki couldn't just spit out.

"F-Fujioka, you ask?" he said with shaking voice, and he felt so embarrassed. He knew he was caught, and he can't run away now.

"Yeah, Misaki, that's exactly what I was asking."

The boy turned his head down, and the floor seemed to be blurry as he was trying hard to find an explanation. His cheek burned, his head started to hurt as hell. There was no way he could lie now.

"Umm… Fu-Fujioka-san is… is working at Marukawa as well as I am," he started, and he was ready to tell the embarrassing fact that he's writing a novel, but before he could speak, Usagi let go of his arm.

"Oh. A colleague of yours?"

Misaki looked up at Usagi, his jaw almost dropped. What? Why? He frowned, then he just got it: the author didn't caught him. He was safe… _again_!

* * *

It took a few days, but Misaki finally corrected all the mistakes, and called his editor to meet at that restaurant again. He was almost sure that Usagi wouldn't find them there.

They met in the afternoon, and Usagi was a little suspicious about Misaki going out again, but the boy said he would go and drink a coffee with Sumi, so Usagi didn't make a fuss. Misaki was feeling really terrible about lying to Usagi for months now, and he also knew that he has to tell him soon.

"Asakura-sensei, over here!"

Misaki turned his glance at the table in the corner, and saw his editor waving towards him, and smiling as cheerfully as always.

"I'm sorry for being late, Fujioka-san," Misaki apologised, taking his seat.

"That's okay," the editor said, "more importantly, you brought the corrected manuscripts, didn't you?"

Misaki nodded, and pulled the manuscript out from him bag, and gave it to the woman, who started to proofread it. It took a while to finish, but when she did, she put the papers down and leaned closer to Misaki.

"You see, Asakura-sensei, it's much better now!"

"D-Do you think?" Misaki blinked, and threw a little smile.

"Yes, but as I said, we still need to add a lot more to make this story complete."

Misaki nodded again, and pulled closer to his editor, listening to her carefully while she was explaining why a scene was unimportant or what to add to a scene that was not really complete. They ordered coffee and a menu while working, and it was late in the night when they finished the meeting, and Fujioka ran back to Marukawa and Misaki just started to walk home.

 _Now I get a lot of things. And I feel like I can finally take this novel to the edge!_

He smiled as he was walking to the bus station. Among a lot of people, he didn't notice Usagi.

* * *

"I don't get something."

When Ijuuin turned, Shizuku was looking at him with his usual poker face, and the author's smile slowly faded away.

"What is it about?"

Shizuku grimaced. "Takahashi."

Ijuuin's face darkened as he looked into the black-haired boy's eyes. "What's with that face of yours?"

"I think he's useless. And until now, my help was just enough. Why do you need that brat?"

Ijuuin took a last glance at the manuscript he was working on, then sat down, and stared at Shizuku for a long moment. Then he smiled. "Sit down for a minute."

Shizuku frowned for first, but then he just sat down in front of the mangaka, looking at him suspiciously. Ijuuin was still smiling, and it made him a little happy to see how much it bothers the other.

"You still didn't get over the fact that Takahashi-kun will work with us together?"

"Not really," Shizuku admitted. "I don't want to work with him together."

"You say that, but your eyes say something else," Ijuuin laughed. "You are both fans of The Kan, and I know you would really like to discuss about the manga with him."

Shizuku seemed to get embarrassed as he turned away, and a little blush appeared on his cheek. He also seemed to be a little frustrated as Ijuuin kept smiling at him.

"T-That's not the point."

"I know. But you have to accept that you and Takahashi will work together."

"But… why did you apply him?"

Ijuuin closed his eyes like he was daydreaming. Like someone _deeply in love_.

"It's because I want Takahashi-kun to be next to me. I want to take him from that author Usami."

"Hah?" Shizuku frowned again, and he was completely mad by now. "Why would you–"

Ijuuin stood up, walking pass Shizuku while running his fingers through the boy's hair. "Because Usami doesn't deserve a boy as pure and innocent as Takahashi-kun."


	6. Chapter 6

Shizuku was walking home, still mad at Ijuuin because of the things he said earlier. The mangaka told him every single detail he knew about Usagi and Misaki's relationship, and Shizuku was sure there was definitely no way that Ijuuin could take the brunette boy away from the author — unless he used force. And it was something Shizuku didn't like about the whole thing, and this is the reason he didn't want Ijuuin to apply Misaki because he made the man like this.

Shizuku never knew this side of Ijuuin until now. He really seemed to be forceful about his plan, like he would do anything it takes to have Misaki.

"Oh, Ryou, welcome home!" Shizuku looked up as he entered the apartment. His girlfriend was standing in front of him, her face slightly pink. When Shizuku just smiled, she tilted her head. "What's the matter? You look kind of angry."

"I'm not gonna lie, Tomoka. I am," he replied, sitting down on the coach, and the girl sat next to him.

"What happened? Is it that mangaka you're in charge with again?"

"Yeah," he let out a heavy sigh. "You remember what I told you about him being gay for a newbie boy at Marukawa, don't you?"

"Yes," Tomoka nodded.

"Well, he's about to take the boy away from his boyfriend. I mean, he's probably dating with Usami Akihiko, at least that's what it seems like."

"Wait a minute!" The girl suddenly looked excited. "That boy dates the famous novelist, Usami Akihiko?"

"Yep, that's what it seems like," Shizuku said. "Do you know him?"

"Umm... Not really. I just heard that he's kinda famous and a bestseller."

Shizuku nodded. "Yeah, well, the point is that Ijuuin wants to take Takahashi away from him. Even though he would never be able to do that. Misaki is totally a number one fan. But he only adores Ijuuin for his great work, not for his personality, and he isn't attached to him on a romantic level like Ijuuin is."

"Wow, it's difficult."

"I know, right. And this is what makes me angry. Ijuuin will do whatever it takes to take the boy away from that novelist." He exhaled long, then rubbed his temples. "I feel like a storm is about to come."

* * *

"I'm home!"

When Misaki entered, it was dark all over the house.

 _Where is Usagi?_

He lit up the lights, and put his coat down. He was tired, moreover exhausted as hell, and sitting down he immediately fell asleep, and minutes later he was awaken by the sound of the front door.

"Oh, Usagi-san where have you b—"

Misaki stopped when he saw Usagi's face. He was mad. No, he was _beyond mad_.

"The question is that where have _you_ been, Misaki?"

"Eh?" Misaki lifted his eyebrows. "I told you I was heading out—"

"Yeah, but you never told me a word about heading out with a woman!" Usagi yelled, his face was darkened.

Misaki stepped back, and as that day's morning, he once again felt like he's about to faint. What? How? How does Usagi know about her?

 _Did he follow us?_

"Usagi-san, she was Fujioka-san from earlier. From Marukawa."

"I guessed that! But why on Earth were you with her? Was it a date? Is she your age? Who the hell is that woman?"

Usagi was literally shaking, his fists clenched, and he was facing Misaki. Looking into his eyes, Misaki got scared. Usagi was a living bomb now which was about to explode anytime.

"I told you she's a colleague—"

"That's clear, but I know I've seen her before, and she's not even in your department, Misaki."

Misaki gulped, and sat down on the coach. He completely lost this fight, and he knew that very well. Usagi stepped closer, his hands in his coat's pocket. He didn't seem like saying anything until Misaki answers.

Misaki drew a deep breath to calm himself which appeared to be unsuccessful. Licking his lip, he glanced at Usagi.

"Usagi-san... please… sit down! It's going to be a long and a super embarrassing story."

* * *

"Yanase-kun, what's wrong with this panel?" Ijuuin asked, not looking at his assistant. The boy walked next to him, taking a look at the part of the manuscript Ijuuin was pointing at.

"As you can see, sensei, that panel is totally unimportant."

"But why? I mean, it explains a lot and—"

"Yeah, it does," Yanase said, leaning closer, "but the readers know it already, so you don't need to add that."

Ijuuin scratched the back of his head, then nodded. How do they know that? While wondering and going on with proofreading the edited manuscript, his thoughts wandered to somewhere else. To _someone_ else.

He smiled as Takahashi Misaki's happy face appeared in his head, and his heart beat faster. He loved that boy so much, and no matter how many times Misaki turned him down, he was sure he can turn that fan love into a romantic one. And that's what he was about to do. Turn the boy's love into a romantic love and take him away from Usagi.

"Sensei, you have to hurry with the proofreading," Yanase said, and Ijuuin was suddenly back to reality.

"Oh, yeah, sure."

He felt the editor's stare on his skin, but tried not to care about it. But he couldn't help looking up at him, and for the first time today, he noticed the black circles under Yanase's eyes. He stood up and walked towards him, gently holding his shoulder.

"You didn't get enough sleep lately, did you?"

"It's not that bad," Yanase murmured, glancing at Ijuuin.

"You do too much work. Being an editor for three authors is tough."

"As I said, it's not that bad."

"Go, have some rest."

"What?"

Ijuuin was smiling at him, and Yanase seemed a little surprised.

"I still didn't finish proofreading the manuscript, so you can have some rest until then."

"But, sensei, I—"

"Go!"

The mangaka literally pushed him into his own room, and when he made sure Yanase was resting in the bed, he went back to finish the proofreading.

 _With this chapter of The Kan, I will definitely make you closer to me, Takahashi-kun._

* * *

Usagi was looking at Misaki with his eyebrows lifted. Misaki turned his head down, and he felt so embarrassed that he just couldn't look up at Usagi. It took Misaki nearly an hour to tell the story, and he asked Usagi to not say or ask anything, and the man didn't do any of them, just listened. After the story has come to an end, Usagi didn't say anything at all.

Misaki started feeling anxious. "U-Usagi-san...?"

The man started for a moment, then burst out laughing which surprised Misaki. He tilted his head to the side, waiting for the other to say something and stop laughing.

"So this was the huge secret you couldn't tell me?"

Misaki nodded dourly, face deep red. "But stop laughing at me, it's already too embarrassing."

Usagi ruffled his hair, his lips curled into a smile. "You could've told me."

"I-It wasn't that easy!"

"But we could've avoided a lot of misunderstandings. Besides that," Usagi leaned closer with a waggish smile, "I'm a bestseller author, I could've been your biggest help, Misaki."

"I-I can handle this," Misaki blushed again.

"Really? May I ask about how many times your editor sent back your manuscript because of grammar mistakes and other things?"

Usagi still smiled rather mockingly now, and Misaki felt a little bad, but he knew that the man was right. Just like he knew it.

"But still, I can't take advantage on an author as great as you, Usagi-san!"

"Who said you're taking advantage? I offer my help myself. And wait… Misaki, do you really think I'm a great author?"

"Of course I do!" Misaki yelled, leaning closer to Usagi, their fingers on the coach touched. "Your book inspired me anyway."

Usagi's eyes grew wide and Misaki just realised what he said. He lifted his palm to his mouth, but it was late, Usagi already heard his words. The boy's face went all red again.

"Eh?"

"N-Nothing…"

"Misaki..."

"Just forget it, okay?!"

Usagi gently touched his face, and Misaki looked up at him.

"I don't wanna forget that, Misaki. Hearing something like that is a pleasure for an author. And soon you will experience that."

Misaki tore up, and Usagi kissed him in comfort, then gave him a hug.

"I expected a whole different reaction," Misaki laughed into Usagi's shirt, trying to hold his tears back.

"Like mocking?"

"Kind of."

Usagi pushed him away to look into his eyes. "I'm not mocking you, but I'm a cruel critic as others said, and I may destroy your whole book while reading..."

"Okay, I understood…"

"But I'm not mocking you, Misaki. I support your decision, and I'm with you."

Misaki tore up once again, this time he let his tears flow down on his pink cheek.

"Usagi-san..."

"But your grammar is a mess, your writing composition is like it was written by a foreigner and not a native Japanese person, besides you never read a single–"

"Okay, I got it!" Misaki put his hand to Usagi's mouth. "You don't have to tell me how much of a mess I am! Besides, you said you wouldn't mock me."

Usagi laughed. "Yeah, but I also said that I'm a critic."

Misaki let out a heavy sigh, his tears already dried up. "Yep. You did."

The man now leaned for a kiss, and Misaki moaned, his hands running up on Usagi's arm automatically, and it made both of them a little surprised. Misaki blushed and Usagi smiled at him, then hugged him tight, his fingers in the boy's brown locks.

"I love y–"

He was interrupted by the loud ringtone of Misaki's phone. The brunette pulled it out from his pocked, and his eyes grew wide when he saw the name Ijuuin Kyou. Before he could hide it, Usagi took the phone away.

"What the hell does this mangaka want now?" he asked, his voice was full of anger and jealousy.

"I don't know, I was about to pick up," Misaki ran after him, and got his phone back, and picked up. "Hello, it's Takahashi."

"Ah, Takahashi-kun, I thought I was bothering," Ijuuin said.

"Well, _you are!_ " Usagi mumbled, not taking his eyes off Misaki.

"N-No, you aren't bothering me, sensei!"

"Fine, then. I was about to ask your help tomorrow. One of my assistant needs rest, and–"

"Oh, don't worry, I will be there!" MIsaki said before Ijuuin could end his sentence.

"Alright then, Takahashi-kun. Thank you for your help!"

"No, that's okay, I'm pleased to help you, sensei."

Ijuuin laughed into the phone, and Misaki smiled. Usagi in the background was quietly holding back his anger, and when Misaki turned to look at him, he noticed it.

"Well, then see you tomorrow."

He hung up, and kept the distance between them. Usagi looked scary and furious standing next to the countertops, arms crossed.

"What did he want?"

"Just some work."

"Don't you have enough, Misaki? You're working in Marukawa in full time, and you're working on a novel. Shouldn't you put more effort into it?"

"I-I do!" Misaki argued.

"No, it doesn't seem so," Usagi sighed. "Listen, you can't work on a book without giving your whole attention and energy to it. And you can't do that with having so much work!"

"But Kirishima-san was the one coming to me and asking me to help out Ijuuin-sensei," Misaki explained, but it didn't seem to work.

"You should've said no."

"Admit it that you're just jealous, Usagi-san."

"Of course I am!" he yelled, and Misaki took a step back. "How could I not be?"

"J-Just stop being jealous, okay? It's just work."

"I'm sure it's not. At least not to that mangaka."

They were looking into each other's eyes, Usagi was angry and jealous, and Misaki had enough of it.

"Leave me alone for now."

He ran up the stairs, straight into his room, and he didn't hear Usagi yelling after him.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Hey guys! First of all, Happy new year! Woah, I hope I can be more active in 2017. XD**

 **So, here's the next chapter. I hope you like it. I needed to add some plus scenes, and clarify things such as Shizuku having a girlfriend. He's not going to end up with Ijuuin, that's what I can tell you guys for sure.**

 **Oh speaking of Ijuuin, as Shizuku said, you can guys expect a storm, haha.**

 **Well, thank you for reading, favouriting, following and reviewing. :D It means a lot. See you in the next chapter!**


	7. Chapter 7

Knocking on the door made Misaki look up, and walk towards it, placing his palm on the white wood.

"Misaki, open up, please!" he heard Usagi's calm and peaceful voice, but he didn't want to open the door. He was still mad.

"I don't wanna talk now," he said, leaning against the door.

"You're just doing that right now," Usagi said, and Misaki rolled his eyes.

"Damn you, Usagi!"

He opened up, glancing at the author. He stood at the door with one of his huge bears in his arm, cigarette in his mouth.

"May I come in?"

Misaki just took a step away to let the other into the room, then closed the door. He sat on the swivel chair, not looking at Usagi.

"What is it?"

"I just want you to talk to me. And look at me."

Misaki slowly looked up at him, and got off the chair to sit right next to Usagi on the edge of the bed.

"I know you're upset," Usagi continued, hugging his bear. He looked like a small child at that point, Misaki thought. "And I know that I keep telling you to not meet Ijuuin again. But you have to understand my feelings, Misaki. It feels like a knife in my heart when I hear you mentioning his name."

Misaki looked at him, eyes sparkled as he was trying to imagine what the other could feel. He remembered that time, when he saw Aikawa touching him… his necktie, to be completely correct, but he still wished that the woman didn't touch him. Never again. But by now, he learned that Usagi loved only him, and thinking about it, he couldn't really love anyone else, but him.

He suddenly got himself leaning closer, and planted a kiss on the author's lips, which made both of them surprised. Of course, Misaki once got Usagi off his feet, and lying on the floor on the top of him, he kissed his neck and stuff, but he couldn't do anything else. So this action was surprising for sure, and Misaki couldn't tell if he was hell of scared or got brave all of a sudden.

"You…" Usagi whispered with widened eyes, but the boy covered his mouth.

"Don't even mention it!"

Usagi got his palm off of his mouth and smiled. "Another thing I have to add. And listen carefully!"

"What is it?"

"We have to talk about your novel."

"You wanna mock me?" Misaki sighed, but Usagi's laughter made him frown.

"No, I would never mock you. I already told you… As a professional author, I will, of course, state my opinion and criticize your story, but I'll as well help you with this."

Misaki listened carefully, and the first thing that came to his mind was a question – how could he be so afraid of what Usagi would say?

"Besides" the author continued, "whenever you feel like you can't go on with the plot or something, you can just tell me, and no matter how much work I have, I'll be there to help you out."

The boy felt warm tears in his eyes. He had to bit on his lip. He was really close to crying, which he didn't want to; not in front of Usagi, at least. He felt beyond happy about it. He got not only two editors by his side, but a bestseller author, too, and if it isn't the biggest help and support he can get, then he didn't know what is.

"And now, show me that novel! Let me read it!"

And Misaki froze, sweat drop rolling down on his face.

"A… Are you sure you want to see that?"

"Yeah," Usagi said, standing up, lighting another cigarette. "So I can help you."

"O-Okay…"

Misaki grabbed the manuscripts and handed it to Usagi.

* * *

"I never thought you'd put something like that into your manga, sensei," Yanase said as he drew a huge red X onto a panel.

"I told you, it's important."

"I still don't get why you want to turn your story into a romantic thing," the guy sighed. "Also, this part should be changed with the panel in the right corner. It's easier to understand that way."

"Thanks, and the reason is not so important."

"Yes, it is," Yanase argued, crossing his arms. "If you don't tell me your intentions with the plot, I can't make a proper job on this chapter!"

Ijuuin sighed, leaning against his work table with a mug of coffee. "You're right. This new thing in my manga is for a special reader of mine."

"Did you know that it's going to make the other readers jealous?"

"Who said they'd know?" Ijuuin laughed softly. "I mean, of course, all my reader are equal for me, but this one…"

"Don't tell me you've fallen for one of your readers!" Yanase rolled his eyes in frustration, putting the red pen onto the table.

"Haha, what if I have?" the author laughed softly, taking a sip from his coffee.

"Shit…" Yanase rubbed his temples, stood up, and took a step closer to the mangaka. "Look, sensei… I'm not the one to tell you what to do with your personal life, but as your editor, I have to warn you that you shouldn't mix your personal life with your work. And what you're about to do is definitely mixing these two!"

"Yanase-kun, don't worry about me," Ijuuin put the mug down and placed his hand on Yanase's shoulder. "It's going to be okay. No one is going to know about it, only that specific person."

"It's still a horrible idea."

"I always listen to you, and discuss every correction in my manga, but this time I'll be damn stubborn," Ijuuin laughed again and put on his coat. "I'm off to buy some snacks. You want something?"

"Nah, I'm fine," Yanase said. As Ijuuin left, he got his phone and dialed a number.

"Hello? It's Shizuku."

"We need to talk!"

* * *

Misaki buried his face into Usagi's huge bear, and even his ears were red. Sometimes he lifted up his glance just to see Usagi writing something onto the pages with a red pen, and at some points, he just sat in the chair, thinking. It's only been thirty minutes, but he already read the half of the novel. Well, maybe because it has less than 300 pages.

"Misaki, you–"

"Keep reading, and correcting!" the brunet said, burying his face into the bear again.

"Okay."

Another thirty minutes passed, and Usagi stood up and handed the manuscript full of red marks and notes to Misaki.

"Oh, my goodness, Usagi-san, you made more corrections than Fujioka-san did!" Misaki groaned as he checked the manuscript.

"Well, you better start to work on it." Usagi sat down next to him, pointing at the very first page. "First of all, you need to work up your readers, and that won't work if you don't give them time to get to know the situation. You have to start and build the plot, but be careful and don't say too much. That will make the readers bored."

"What do you mean?" Misaki frowned.

"Look," Usagi pointed at the first paragraph. "It's a Girls' Love novel about two girls' relationship. No one on Earth cares about the weather. Of course, you can say that it was windy that day, but you don't need to talk about it in a whole paragraph."

"Ugh…"

"Second of all, Misaki," Usagi took a deep breath, "you should read more books. That would make you a better writer for sure. You would see a lot of different plots, and starts, and it would give you a clue, how to do your own novel."

"Yeah, you're probably right," Misaki laid down on the bed, glaring at the ceiling.

Usagi got up and left the room just to return a few minutes later, with some books in his hand.

"Start with these books of mine," he said, placing them onto the bed. "Easy to read, and none of them is that long."

Misaki groaned, and grabbed one of the novels, starting to read. Usagi lit a cigarette, looking at the brunet. The boy was a slow reader for sure. "You really want me to read four or five books in one night?"

"Yeah, you can't be a real novelist without reading," Usagi said.

"Yeah, I guess," Misaki sighed, and went back to read.

He found the book interesting, even though it was one of Usagi's non-BL books, and it was a story from a random boy's point of view. Was that boy Usagi himself? Instead of thinking about it, Misaki kept reading, so he could find it out by the end.

* * *

What Yanase found out from Shizuku was the most disturbing thing to him. When he first met Ijuuin-sensei, he thought he was seeing a god. He was the purity himself on the inside, and on the outside. He always admired the mangaka, more than any of the other authors at Marukawa, and slowly, he caught himself falling for him. Falling for him hard. He was that person who helped him forget another mangaka.

The things Shizuku told him a few minutes ago got him shocked. He never thought that the mangaka he thought was always kind and pure would ever think about being forceful toward a reader. A reader who's actually working at Marukawa, too, and soon would be in charge with him. Sitting on the chair and staring at the papers, Yanase had no clue, what to do now. Tomorrow, Takahashi is going to come here, and either he or Shizuku would be here at that time. Letting out a heavy sigh, he rubbed his temples.

 _What am I supposed to do?_

Ijuuin came back with a bag in his hand, and packing out, he threw a worried glance at Yanase.

"Are you alright? Do you need rest?"

"No, I'm good," the editor replied. "Just took a break."

"I see."

Ijuuin gave a bag of snacks to the guy.

"I told you. I don't need anything."

"Just eat it, Yanase!"

Yanase smiled, and opened the bag while finishing the correction. His stomach was clenched, and he wasn't sure if he was jealous, or just simply nervous. He didn't know how this whole thing would turn out, but he couldn't let Takahashi come here, or be alone with Ijuuin. And staring at said man's back, he got an idea.

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_

 _ **Hey, guys! Oh my goodness, I feel so ashamed. I mean... really. It's been like... 6 months *shrieks* since I last updated! What the heeell...?**_

 _ **Okay, you might think "what the frick happened to her, why doesn't she update?"**_

 _ **In January, I had a bunch of exams, and turned out that I couldn't just pass all of them, so I took a semester off. And in March, someone came into my life, and so did a HUGE writer's block. That someone left me since then, so I started to write again WOOHOO.**_

 _ **Also, I was busy with trying to look for a job, watching series (such as The Returned, Supernatural, etc), and I got a little addicted to Youtube. So watching a bunch of Youtubers became another habit of mine.**_

 _ **Once again, I'm sorry for not updating for a hella long time. I'll be a little bit more active from now on. Or I'll at least try to be.**_

 _ **As always, thank you for reviews, follows and faves. :) It really makes me keep going on with my fic.**_

 _ **Ricchan**_


	8. Chapter 8

"I'm sooo honoured to meet you, Usami-sensei!"

Fujioka was visibly holding back her inner fangirl as she shook hands with Usagi. Earlier that day, she suggested to meet, and Misaki told her to come over since Usagi already knew everything.

"Misaki, don't you have work with that mangaka?" Usagi asked earlier.

"No, his editor, Yanase-san called me and told me that Ijuuin-sensei doesn't need my help since he and Shizuku-san would be there."

This is how they ended up meeting with Fujioka that day. And she was a big fan of Usagi and his books. They were sitting in the living room with Misaki's manuscript on the table.

"It looks a lot better, I have to admit," she said as she turned a page. "See, sensei, you can do a lot better!"

Misaki laughed shyly, and next to him, Usagi smiled at him, then ruffled his hair. Fujioka kept on reading, and when she finished, she threw a grin.

"May I have a question?"

"Go ahead," Misaki replied.

"Did Usami-san help you?"

Misaki blushed and groaned. "How did you know?"

"Your whole writing style changed in a short period of time, so I supposed he has something to do with it."

Usagi and Misaki looked at each other, then glanced back at the woman. Last day, Usagi gave Misaki a bunch of books to read while he made more corrections on his novel. After reading two books, Misaki corrected everything Usagi marked. The man was indeed a huge help.

"But I still feel that something isn't right," Fujioka murmured, chewing her bottom lip. "I mean… There's no serious confrontation. The love between Kitagawa and Akiyama is too simple. They met, they became friends, and then they… became lovers. There's no tension, no excitement."

"You didn't correct that?" Usagi frowned. "I noted that at the end of the manuscript."

"I thought it was okay," Misaki argued.

"No, it's totally not," Fujioka and Usagi said at once, then the editor went on, "you need to keep the fire in the readers, otherwise they will not read your book, Asakura-sen–"

"Takahashi is okay," Misaki said.

"Oh, Takahashi-sensei. So, you get my point, right? You need to make your readers excited, and make them read and read and read!"

Misaki nodded. "You might be right."

"Just think about a good plot twist. A girl or a guy comes, and falls in love with one of them, or an old love of Akiyama wants to get her back, and Kitagawa doesn't want it to happen."

"That's a good idea!" Misaki took notes on the manuscript. "Thank you."

"I swear to god, Misaki, you just need to have more fantasy," Usagi sighed, and wrapped his arm around the boy's neck. "And you should read more."

"Okay, okay, I understood."

Later that day, after Fujioka left, Misaki went back to his room, and added the plot twist.

 _Everything seemed to be pointless with Kitagawa, Akiyama thought. She didn't seem to be interested in her, and it made her sad. But still, Akiyama walked her home, and she was about to say bye, when someone familiar appeared. And Akiyama froze for a second._

 _"_ _Akiyama-san?" Kitagawa asked, then looked at the person._

 _"_ _Hi, Akiyama!"_

 _She recognised that person. It was Yamada. They went out a few years ago, but their relationship didn't work well, so they broke up. It shook Akiyama, but she managed to move on, and now, she appeared, smiling at her like their past meant nothing._

 _"_ _Hi… Yamada!"_

 _"_ _Akiyama-san, who's this?" Kitagawa asked, and the girl who just came turned toward her._

 _"_ _I'm Yamada Misa. An old friend of Akiyama," Yamada replied, and never paid any attention to Kitagawa again. "You have a minute, Akiyama? I wanna talk to you."_

 _Akiyama turned her glance down, and nodded. "I have."_

 _The girl grinned, then walked next to her, and they left, Akiyama murmured a 'bye' to Kitagawa. She was confused. She was so deeply in love with Kitagawa, but it seemed like she didn't feel the same. And now, Yamada came, her first love, the person she was totally into back then, and the person she could hardly forget. Why? Why did she come back?_

Misaki just typed and typed without a pause, not even noticing Usagi looking at him from the door. The author smiled, and with a mug of coffee, he as well went to finish his novel. Aikawa would kick him in the ass if he keeps her waiting again.

 _"_ _I love you, Akiyama. I still do. And I regret everything that happened back then."_

 _Akiyama looked at Yamada in complete shock, not really knowing what to do. After a few minutes of silence, she said, "I have to think about it, and consider some things. I'm sure we'll meet again. Let's talk about it later."_

* * *

Yanase could not say that it was easy to convenience Ijuuin-sensei. After talking to Shizuku, they made a plan which was ridiculously random, but still worked – they both cancelled their meetings with those other mangakas, just so they both can be with Ijuuin instead of letting him be alone with Takahashi. For first, Ijuuin argued with them for a long time, and he was totally mad, but in the end, he said okay. Next step was to call Takahashi. Yanase made this call, and told him that both he and Shizuku would work with Ijuuin, so he doesn't have to come.

Yanase himself didn't know why he was doing this. Maybe for Ijuuin's sake, to make him avoid unnecessary confrontations. Maybe for Takahashi's sake, so he wouldn't get forced into something he seemingly doesn't want. Or maybe it was for his sake because he didn't want Ijuuin to love someone else.

Countless of times he asked himself why he loved this mangaka so much. In the beginning, he thought it was some kind of desperation because of a man named Yoshino Chiaki. But he soon realised that it had nothing to do with him anymore. It was a new love.

"Okay, I know that you two are here," Ijuuin suddenly spoke, looking up from his manuscript with dark circles under his eyes, "but seriously, where's Takahashi-kun? if I'm not mistaken, I called him, and told him that I need his help."

"Oh yeah, well…" Shizuku started, but Yanase helped him out.

"Kirishima-san gave him a bunch of work, so he couldn't come," he lied. _Great…_ he thought, _now I can involve Kirishima as well into this whole mess._

"Ha? Really?" Ijuuin seemed to be surprised and mad at the same time. "Why didn't any of them called me?"

Yanase gulped, but quickly came up with his next lie. "Because Takahashi did, but he accidentally dialled my number, sp he told me everything about it. I just forgot to tell you. Sorry."

"I understand," Ijuuin said. "You're busy after all, Yanase-kun. Never mind, I think we'll be okay without him."

Yanase sighed in relief, and Shizuku seemed to be relieved, too. The three of them concentrated on their work again.

* * *

"Aaalrighty!" Fujioka said with a happy tone in her voice after reading Misaki's rewritten manuscript. "I'm honestly glad that you asked for help from Usami-sensei. This novel looks a lot better! It's on it's way to be perfect!"

"Thank you, Fujioka-san. I'm really happy that you think so," Misaki said with a smile, and glanced at Usagi. The author smiled back proudly.

"There are only a few things you need to change, and we can then publish it! I mean, start to make it into a book, and publish."

"I'm listening," Misaki nodded.

"First of all, I need your confirmation. Are you sure about this novel?"

"Yeah," the boy said unsure. Why wouldn't he be sure?

"Okay. Second: are you honestly okay with the plot? Are you okay with how thing turned out, right?"

"Absolutely," Misaki replied.

"I'm happy to hear that. And last: you wanna publish it as Asakura Toshio, or as Takahashi… what's your full name again?"

"It's Takahashi Misaki, and I wanna publish it as Asakura Toshio."

"Okay. Then please change the things I marked, and it's going to be ready!"

Misaki nodded, and a few minutes later, Fujioka left. Usagi hugged the boy from behind, his silver locks tickled Misaki's ear.

"I'm so proud of you, Misaki," he whispered in his ears. Misaki smiled.

"T-Thank you."

"But let me ask a question… _sensei_."

"What is it?" Misaki turned towards Usagi. The man's face was completely serious now, and Misaki got a little scared for a moment as he looked him in the eyes.

"Does Takahiro know about it? About you writing a book?"

"Oh my…" Misaki's eyes grew wide, and he started to freak out. "I… I totally forgot about it! I forgot to tell nii-chan!"

"Okay, don't be scared! You can just invite them and tell them."

"But how? I'm as scared as I was before I told you."

"What's so wrong about it, Misaki? You act as if Takahiro would murder you for it."

"I-I know he wouldn't, but still…"

Usagi hugged him again, this time kissing him softly. "Invite them. Let's tell them about it. I'm sure he's going to be happy about it."

* * *

Takahiro was so glad to be invited that he immediately said yes. They arrived at Usagi's house at the evening which made Misaki even more scared.

"Misaki!" Takahiro hugged his little brother, then waved to Usagi. "Usagi! I'm so happy to see you again!"

They then sat down around a table, and Misaki served coffee to all of them, except Mahiro. He then joined the chit-chatting people.

"There's something I wanna talk to you about," he now turned to his brother, and Takahiro looked up at him, curious.

"What is it, Misaki?"

The boy turned to face Usagi who he looked back at his brother, fear growing bigger in him. "I– uh… I think I found out what I wanna do."

"It's wonderful, Misaki!" Takahiro said happily. "And what is it?"

Misaki inhaled deeply. "I'm… I'm about to… umm…"

He buried his face into his palms, and seeing this, Usagi and Takahiro placed their hands on his shoulder. Even Mahiro wanted to comfort him.

"Come on, Misaki. I'm sure it's a great thing!" Takahiro smiled at him, his hand is still on his brother's shoulder.

"Just say it, Misaki."

The boy looked up, turning to Usagi, then turning to his brother. He licked his lips, still feeling as scared as he never felt before. "Nii-chan, I'm about to publish a book."

Takahiro blinked, and went silent for a couple of minutes. Misaki was glancing at him, waiting for some sort of reaction. Any reaction. Then the older Takahashi finally spoke.

"Misaki, you… you really…?"

"Yes, nii-chan."

"But…"

"Usagi-san helped me a lot, and so did my editor," Misaki interrupted his brother.

Takahiro seemed to be completely confused, and as Misaki looked at Usagi, he looked the same. Except that Usagi was probably confused by Takahiro's reaction. Then the older Takahashi clapped his hands, a big grin appeared on his face.

"I'm so glad, Misaki! You can't imagine how surprised and happy I am!"

"R-really?" Misaki blushed.

"Yes." Takahiro now hugged his little brother. "It seems like you improved a lot. University and Usagi had a huge impact on you, I see."

"I-I guess."

Takahiro was right, Misaki thought. Usagi's novel was the reason he started writing in the first place.

"Just keep it up!"

"Okay," Misaki nodded.

Now that Takahiro knew it, too, Misaki felt relieved and happy. He thought nothing could get into his way now.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Hello, everyone! I thought that I'd be more active as summer came, but oh my goodness, I neglected this fic so much. I'm so ashamed And sorry to make you wait, guys. Here's the new chapter, I hope you like it. ^_^ Thank you for being patient! I'll do my best with the next chapter. We're going to have a little storm coming up. And we'll see if Misaki can handle it or not. ;) Thank you for reading!**

 **Ricchan**


	9. Chapter 9

Done. The new chapter of The Kan was done. Yanase looked at the author, and his chest got filled with pain. _Loving someone that won't ever love you back_ , he quoted a certain line from the manga. What an accurate line it is. He knew it. He knew that Ijuuin loved Misaki, and this was kind of a magic trick to seduce the boy, but Yanase highly doubted it would ever work. Not especially when it's about a boy living with Usami Akihiko himself. _Loving someone that won't ever love you back_ , he quoted again as he looked back at the author. Ijuuin was proud of this new chapter, and Yanase usually felt the same, but now, he just wanted to hide from this storm that was coming.

He and Shozuku knew that Usami would be pissed up as hell if he saw this. And damn sure he would see this.

Yanase sighed, and put on his jacket, ready to go to Yoshikawa-sensei's place. As he left Ijuuin's apartment, he walked down the street, and ran into Shizuku.

"Yanase!" the guy stopped, seemingly glad to see the brunet.

"Shizuku… Where are you going?"

"I was actually on my way to sensei's place to talk to you."

"About what?"

Shizuku took a deep breath. He seemed disturbed. "I'm sure you know about that…." he raised his hand to make a quotation mark with his fingers, "'iconic line' he out into the manga. He… he did it in the end, didn't he?"

"Why are you so scared?" Yanase frowned. "It's not like it's gonna get us in trouble. Only Ijuuin sensei."

"I know, but still…" Shizuku looked really frustrated. "Never mind. We can't do anything now. It's gonna get printed. We gonna die. Usami-sensei is going to slaughter us."

"Wait, what are you talking about?"

Yanase stood in front of Shizuku, confused. He knew why Misaki was so unreachable for Ijuuin, but how did Shizuku know?

"Ijuuin told me, okay?" Shizuku was shouting now. "And… I have this really bad feeling. I don't know why, but I just… I'm sure Usami knows that we're working with Ijuuin-sensei. And we let this chapter happen!"

"Look…" Yanase walked to Shizuku, holding his shoulder to stop him from walking up and down. "You're overreacting."

"Yeah…" the black-haired guy nodded. "Probably."

"Go home, Shizuku. We'll talk later."

Shizuku licked his lips, then turned around, and walked home. Yanase watched him for a while, then he went to Yoshikawa-sensei's place. Hatori was already there when he arrived, but they haven't been getting along, so they basically just ignored each other. He picked up the manuscripts, had a little chat with Chiaki, and left to Marukawa.

 _Loving someone that won't ever love you back…_ How come it's still accurate although the subject changed?

* * *

Done. Everything was done. Proofreading for a million times, changing the script here and there, and now… Misaki held his very first novel's manuscript in his hand proudly, his eyes filled with tears.

"Usagi-san… I did it!" he said, and Usagi smiled.

"Yes, Misaki. You did it."

The boy handed the manuscript to Fujioka. The editor seemed to be very happy about it, and gave a hug to Misaki. "I'll be off then. Let's go down in history with this book, Asakura-sensei!"

Misaki laughed, and watched her leaving the house. When he turned around, he saw Usagi with a bottle of red wine, and two glasses, smiling.

"Usagi-san, I don't wanna wake up at the Usami residence, okay?"

Usagi chuckled, "No, I don't plan anything like that. Come on, let's drink."

Misaki nodded, and they both sat down to the table, the author poured some wine to the both of them. They drank the alcohol silently, and Misaki could feel Usagi's stare on him. They both were happy about this book, and sometimes the author would tell him that he's still beyond surprised about him being a novelist. Misaki smiled without noticing.

"What's so funny?" Usagi asked, frowning.

"Nothing at all," Misaki shook his head. "I was just thinking about how surprised you are about this whole thing."

"Of course I am." Usagi put the glass down, leaning forward, and faced Misaki. "I've never thought that you, Misaki, would once become an author."

"Tell me about it," the brunet sighed. "I know."

"It's strange, you know." Usagi now leaned back as he put a cigarette in his mouth and lit it. "It's like you stepped into a new stage of life. Damn, it's like meeting a brand new Takahashi Misaki, okay?"

Misaki laughed out loud, and Usagi himself smiled at this. "You must be right."

The brunet finished his wine, and grabbed the bottle to pour some more. Usagi did the same.

"What do you wanna do after your book is released?"

"No idea yet," Misaki shrugged, drinking his drink, quickly finishing it again. "It was a pain in the neck to write it."

"But if your book turns out real fine… even a bestseller, then you have to get ready to write more because they will expect you to," Usagi said, taking a small sip of the alcohol.

Misaki grabbed the bottle again. "I know. I mean, they expect you to write more and more, too. I'm not going to be as good as you are, though."

"Don't be so negative," the author shook his head, and leaned forward again to hold Misaki's hand. The brunet blushed. "You don't have to surpass other authors. You just have to write whatever the heck is on your mind, and get better with time. Everyone has their own style and own abilities. Keep that in mind."

"U-Usagi-san…"

"But it's good if you have goals. I mean if there are people you look up to."

Misaki's face turned almost as red as the wine. His heart was beating fast as he faced the man in front of him. He gulped.

"I look up to you, Usagi-san," he whispered. "I told you before, but you are my inspiration."

Usagi seemed to be surprised for a moment, although Misaki already told him that his book was the reason he started writing in the first place. Then he smiled wide, blushing a bit, and Misaki's chest got filled with warmness. It was rare if Usagi blushed.

* * *

A week later, Misaki's book got released. They went to the bookstore to check the books. Misaki was beyond proud and happy about it, and next to him Usagi was smiling at him.

"Looks good on the shelves, isn't it?"

"I know!" Misaki literally tore up. "I… I can't be grateful enough to you, Usagi-san!"

"Why though?"

"For helping me, of course."

Usagi was about to say something, when Isaka ran up to him. He looked exhausted, so Misaki thought he might have run all the way there.

"Akihiko… Chibitan…"

"Isaka-san?" Misaki lifted up his eyebrows in surprise.

"Isaka, what's the matter?" Usagi asked, frowning.

"Nothing, it's just er– Did you hear about this newbie author with this GL book? When I first heard about the manuscript and the story, I laughed myself to death, but look, it's on the shelves now, and it's goddamn good, I admit!"

Isaka was jabbering so much that he was out of breath. Usagi smiled at him, and pointed at Misaki not too conspicuously. Isaka was confused for a moment, then seemed to get it.

"Chibitan…?"

"Yeah," Usagi nodded, still smiling. He probably found this funny, Misaki thought.

"For… real?"

"Yeah."

Isaka didn't say anything else, just turned around with a slight shock on his face, and left the bookstore. When he left, Usagi burst out laughing.

"What's so funny, Usagi-san?"

"He was so shocked, then I pointed at you, and I could see he totally lost it."

Usagi was laughing so loud that some people turned around to see what's going on.

"Was the first manuscript so bad that even Isaka-san laughed?" Misaki asked. He wasn't laughing with Usagi.

"Maybe." Looking at Misaki's face, Usagi coughed, and corrected himself. "I mean… he might've found it funny…"

They wandered around the store to look for books for Usagi. He wanted to buy some to read and gain inspiration from them. As they walked around, Isaka came back to the store, reaching up to them. Seeing him, Usagi almost burst out laughing again.

"You guys know what else got released today?" he asked, and tried not to look at Misaki in shock and disbelief.

"What?" Usagi and Misaki asked together.

"The Kan," Isaka said. "Ijuuin told me something like it's going to be a really big hit. I don't know, I haven't read it yet."

Misaki immediately ran to where he could find The Kan series, and took the newest manga from the shelf, quickly going through the story. Usagi as well went with him, reading the lines over Misaki's shoulder.

"Sooo cool!" Misaki smiled at the book while turning a page. "So, so exciting!"

He was about to turn another page, when Usagi stopped his hand. "Turn it back!"

Misaki did as he was asked to, and went through the lines again. There was nothing special about it.

"Usagi-san, you don't even like The Kan…"

"I don't… Not especially after this."

Misaki and Isaka both looked confused as they glanced at each other, not knowing what Usagi was talking about.

"Akihiko, what's wrong with this?" Isaka took the manga from Misaki, and went through the page. "There's nothing…"

"Yes, there is!"

Usagi pointed at a certain line in the square. _Loving someone that won't ever love you back._ He seemed furious, and Misaki didn't know why, and Isaka seemed to be confused, too. And then… Misaki understood.

He looked at Usagi who now grabbed his hand, and pulled him out the store, leaving Isaka behind.

"That mangaka… that fucking–"

"Usagi-san!" Misaki stopped him, gasping. "First of all, language! Second of all, don't get so carried away, okay?"

"Why the heck wouldn't I get carried away?" he shouted, and some people looked at them. "It's a sign, Misaki. He wants a fucking war!"

"U-Usagi-san, what the hell?"

"Just think about it!" They were now getting into the author's car. "Countless times he tried to seduce you. And he failed. Now that you know how he feels, he tries to get you through The Kan."

"I think you're just overreacting…" Misaki rubbed his temples. "How could you think that? I made everything clear. I told him that I don't love him!"

"I'm seriously going to kill him!" Usagi hissed.

* * *

Ijuuin watched Usami and Misaki walking out the store, and the novelist seemed really angry. He took it as a success. That's what he wanted to achieve. Not in the first place – it was seducing Misaki –, but it will do it for now. He chuckled as he walked towards his car, and as soon as he got home, he was called on the phone by Usami.

"If it isn't the great author, Usami Akihiko?!"

"This is the last thing I take," Usami said, his voice sharp and low. "I'm not going to let Misaki buy your manga anymore, Ijuuin. And I will never let him near you ever again!"

"I wanna watch you do that, honestly." Ijuuin sighed, starting to walk up and down in his apartment, picking up his own copy of the new The Kan book. "Like… Try to stop him buying his favourite manga from his favourite author."

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm willing to do."

"Really? Besides…" The mangaka chuckled, turning a page in the manga, "you can't stop him from seeing me. If Kirishima tells him to help me out, then he has to if he doesn't want to lose his part-time job at Marukawa."

A moment of silence, and Ijuuin knew his trump card was successful.

"Don't you ever think that you won this, you bastard!" Usami finally said, taking a deep breath, probably to calm himself down.

"Haha, we'll see it. Well then, I have some work to do. We'll probably talk again, Usami-sensei."

Before the author could say anything, Ijuuin ended the call, putting the phone back into his pocket. He sat down, the book still in his hand.

 _This should work._

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Hey guys! Ugh, it took me forever to update... again. I'm so sorry! :c I couldn't bring myself to go on with this story until now. And then I opened word, and boom! I got the chapter together. xD I hope you like it! :3 Thank you for all the reviews, faves and follows!**

 **To answer a few questions:**

 **~ No, Misaki's novel doesn't forshadow anything. :) I just thought it's better if you guys know what's going on in his novel**

 **~ Maybe they will tell about their relationship to Takahiro. (ANYWAY DID YOU GUYS READ THE NEWEST CHAPTER OF JR? IT'S SO EXCITING!) I answered this question because it doesn't spoiler anything.**

 _ **Ricchan**_


	10. Chapter 10

Usami Akihiko, the great bestseller author was sitting on the red couch in the living room with a cigarette in his mouth. He was mad. Beyond mad. How could he do that? How could that mangaka do this to him and his dear Misaki?

He bit on the end of his cigarette so hard that it fell onto the floor, burning a small hole into the carpet. Oh, shit… He picked the cigarette up and put it in the ashtray. That son of a–

Of course, he would never let him have Misaki. And of course, Misaki would never be Ijuuin's. Usagi was perfectly sure about that. But still… he felt so mad and jealous. All he wanted to do is find that man, and slap him in the face. Misaki didn't even notice the trick in the new chapter of The Kan. Usagi laughed loudly, and lit another cigarette. _Ijuuin, you idiot!_

He heard footsteps, and saw Misaki coming down the stairs. "Usagi-san, are you okay?"

"Sure," Usagi nodded. "Why?"

"You look stressed." Misaki moved closer, and frowned. "You're having too much cigarette!"

"I always have," the author shrugged his shoulders, and glanced at Misaki.

The brunet sighed, and walked to the kitchen, and Usagi was watching his every step. _He didn't even notice it, Ijuuin… did he?_

Misaki must have felt his glance on him because he looked up, and smiled a bit. Usagi sighed, and went back to his room to work on his newest novel. Akikawa would kill him if he didn't get the manuscript done soon. As he was going through the story, he's got an idea. An awfully childish idea.

"Pardon, what did you say?" Aikawa's eyes grew wide as she was facing Usagi. A few hours later, she popped in to check on the author, and he told her about his idea.

"You heard me, Aikawa." Usagi lit a cigarette.

"It's crazy," she shook her head, taking another look at the manuscript. "Do you really want to use your book to take revenge on Ijuuin? A mangaka?"

"Yes, Aikawa, this is what I want."

The woman rubbed her temples as she put the papers back on the table. "I'm not going to let this happen! Besides, how do you know that Ijuuin would read your novel? You two hate each other damn much!"

"Indeed," Usagi chuckled as he smoked his cigarette, blowing out a grey circle of smoke. "I'm sure he expects revenge. And he will get it."

"Look, sensei…" Aikawa took a deep breath, chewing on her bottom lip. "You shouldn't do as he expects. It's like he's controlling you. You're not his marionette!"

"I know. But he needs to learn his lessons."

"I don't want to get involved in this childish war…" Aikawa sighed, and looked deep into Usagi's eyes. "Don't play his filthy games. Misaki didn't even notice the trick. You did. Ijuuin screwed up, and you're totally overthinking the whole thing."

Usagi went silent for a few minutes, thinking about what Aikawa just told him. _What the hell am I doing? I really act like a stupid kid._

"You must be right," he said, letting out a loud sigh. He grabbed the manuscript, and threw it into the trashcan. "I'll rewrite it."

"That's the Usami Akihiko I know!" Aikawa smiled, and left the house.

* * *

Misaki was getting some papers in order at his table in the department when someone touched his shoulder. He almost jumped away, but he sighed in relief when he saw Ijuuin.

"Sensei, you scared me!"

"I'm sorry, Takahashi-kun," Ijuuin smiled, and sat down to one of the chairs. "I saw you in the bookstore last time."

"Really?" Misaki turned towards him, surprised. "I didn't see you."

"I only arrived when you and Usami left the building," he said, still smiling. "You seemed like you were fighting."

Misaki sighed, and turned his gaze down, putting the papers he was holding in order. "We're always fighting. Nothing special."

He didn't want to go on a rant about the whole thing, especially because it was about Ijuuin himself. Usagi was overthinking, just like he always does, Misaki thought, but of course he couldn't just tell this to the mangaka. Instead, he tried to change the topic.

"Anyway, I have my own copy of your new book," he said, his eyes sparkling.

"I'm really happy to hear that!" Ijuuin's face was indeed happy. Maybe a little bit too happy. And excited. Misaki frowned, but then threw a big grin.

"I really liked it. Just like the rest. But I never expected you adding some romance into it."

Ijuuin laughed. "I think no one expected that. But everything needs some changes, am I right?"

"Absolutely!" Misaki said, maybe a little too loud. He scratched the back of his head. "I can't wait to read more!"

"Oh, Takahashi-kun, may I ask something?"

Misaki nodded, but something caught his eyes. Ijuuin's face expression slightly changed. It went from happy and excited to a little disappointed.

 _Did I say something wrong?_

"Takahashi-kun, what did you actually think about that romance part? Was it okay to add? Did it… affect you in some way?"

 _Such weird questions,_ Misaki thought, tilting his head to the side.

"I liked it. I really did. But since… since…" He blushed. He wanted to say something, but he just couldn't spill it.

"Since what?" Ijuuin crossed his arms, waiting for him to reply.

"N-Nothing! Just forget it!"

Before the mangaka could say anything, Kirishima and Shizuku entered the department, seemingly looking for Ijuuin. The three of them walked a little farther from Misaki to talk.

 _What the hell was that? I love his manga. I really do. But why would it affect me? It was so weird. Sensei is so weird._

Later that day, Usagi came to pick him up. Misaki was unusually quiet, and the author noticed it as they were sitting in his car, driving home.

"Are you okay?" he asked. And Misaki went on a rant.

"I'm not sure. Today, Ijuuin-sensei came up to me, and asked a lot of weird questions! I felt a little attacked, you know…"

"What did he ask exactly?" Usagi didn't look at him as he was carefully paying attention to the road.

"Something like what I really thought about the new chapter, and the romance thing." Misaki was speaking loud. "But imagine this, Usagi-san! He asked me if his manga affected me in any way. Can you believe it? It was so weird! He knows how much I love The Kan, and I've been reading it from my childhood, if course it affects me in some way. But it still feels strange."

Usagi suddenly stopped the car in the middle of the road, causing a small traffic. Some people were tooting behind them, some just yelled out the window of their cars. Then Usagi was finally driving again, lighting up a cigarette, and Misaki could sense that he was furious.

"That son of a–"

As soon as they got home, Usagi walked up into his room, locking himself into it, leaving Misaki all confused.

 _Since I'm dating Usagi-san, the hopeless romance part of The Kan couldn't affect me, of course._

 _That's what I was going to tell Ijuuin-sensei._

* * *

"Oh my god! Usagi-san!"

A few days have passed, and Misaki was running down the stairs, being all excited. Usagi was sitting in the living room, proofreading his manuscript.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Look! Fan letters!"

Before Usagi could say anything, Misaki shoved some mails into the man's face. He grabbed them, and read it all. One of them said:

 _'_ _I hope to read some more work from you, Asakura-sensei! This book helped me a lot, especially dealing with my relationship, since I am myself a lesbian, too. And there are only a few well-written books out there, and this one sure is included! I loved it. Thank you for your work, looking forward to read more!_

 _Sato Keiko'_

"Wow!" Usagi was truly amazed. "You really did a good job!"

"I know right?" Misaki was almost tearing up in happiness. "I'm so honoured to read something like this!"

Usagi smiled at them, and pulled him closer for a kiss. Misaki kissed him back, making him all surprised.

"I'm so proud of you!"

"I have to tell about it to nii-chan!"

Misaki called his brother right away while Usagi was staring at his back. _He always forgets to tell his brother about us._

The brunet sounded beyond excited as he was talking on the phone, blabbering around and laughing. Usagi smiled. What did it feel like when he managed to publish his very first book? It was an amazing feeling for sure, but still… he wasn't this excited, not at least as far as he remembered. He walked back into his room, and took his very first novel down the shelf. He remembered well when Isaka found the manuscript in one of his notebooks and insisted him to publish it in Marukawa. And Usagi listened to him.

He took a glance at the books he published so far. He kept them in an order. There were all of his novels, even the BL ones, and he smiled as he looked at the last one. That was the one that inspired Misaki to write.

A few days ago, when Misaki told him about Ijuuin asking him strange questions, Usagi rushed into his room, locking himself in, and wrote five chapters of a new novel in no time. He planned to publish it as a revenge on Ijuuin. But he didn't want to argue with Aikawa again. He had to admit that the woman was right – Ijuuin expected him to take revenge and play his game, and Usagi decided not to get into this whole thing, but he couldn't help now. He just wanted to pay it back.

An hour later, Misaki was still on the phone with Takahiro, so Usagi sat down in front of his computer, and finished the novel. Two chapters in an hour, and then one while Misaki went to take a shower. Then he followed him with sore eyes. The brunet asked him if he's okay, but he just nodded. After showering, he's written two more chapters, and finished his novel. Ten chapters, almost three hundred pages, and a fake name – Ueno Akio.

He was planning on going to a different publisher. In Marukawa, almost everyone knows who he is. He printed the manuscript, put it on his table, and went to sleep. Ijuuin will know. He's not a stupid man not to know that Ueno Akio is him.

The next day, Usagi was sitting on a leather couch in a publishing house with a man in suite sitting in front of him. He read his manuscript once, then he read it twice. It seemed like he didn't recognise him.

"Ueno Akio, huh?" he spoke after almost thirty minutes of complete silence.

"Yes, that's the one," Usagi replied. He wanted a cigarette so bad. He felt impatient and irritated. What the hell takes so long?

The man looked up at him suspiciously, and for a second Usagi thought he would be caught, but then the editor smiled. "Your biggest inspiration is Usami Akihiko-sensei, am I right? Your writing style is a little bit similar to his style. But this novel is deep, it's full of hidden meanings, I love it!"

Usagi exhaled in relief. _Just let's end this stupid meeting so I can have a cigarette…_

"I'm going to make the corrections, then turn it into a book as soon as I can, and hopefully, you can see your book on the shelves in three weeks."

"Great!"

Half an hour later, Usagi was sitting in his car with a cigarette between his lips.

Ijuuin is not a stupid man. He will know that Ueno Aiko is him. No, he is not stupid not to figure it out.

He was just stupid to start a war with the great bestseller Usami Akihiko.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Hey guys!**

 **Yaay, an update. And it didn't take as long as it usually takes. *sighs* My life is literally turned upside down, but the fanfic goes on and on and on! I literally have no idea how many chapters I'm planning to write, but I feel like I'm not even close to the ending of this story. I hope you enjoy reading it, thank you for all the faves, follows and reviews. it means a lot!**

 **Merry belated Christmas, and Happy New Year, everyone!**

 _ **Ricchan**_


	11. Chapter 11

He woke up at 7 in the morning, and had a coffee which he rarely had before. And at 8, he sat down in his room with his laptop, Microsoft Word is open with a document he saved last night. The document had twenty-three pages, and almost ten thousand words. He sighed, quickly reread the story, and started to type.

 _So I'm slowly turning into an author,_ he thought as he sipped his coffee. _A proper author. A proper, messed up, deadly pale, but pretty much productive author._

He felt tired, and sarcastic as he typed another page to the chapter. How many chapters does the story have now? Is it the third? Oh, god knows! He just typed and typed until his eyes got sore, then took a sip of his coffee again.

 _Productive… and messed up. Yeah, that's what describes me the most._

An hour later, he was loud asleep, head on the desk, fingers on the keyboard. He didn't care if it's uncomfortable or not. He just dreamed, and this dream was about the characters he created, and the story he came up with. He woke up around 3 p.m. with a soft blanket on his back. He smiled, and wrapped himself in the blanket. He was tired, sleepy, cold, but enthusiastic.

"I'm so proud of you," someone in the dark room said.

"Usagi-san?"

"Just do it, Misaki. I believe in you."

And Misaki did it. Misaki had written four new chapters. According to what he thought, his new book had to be done soon.

A month later, exactly five days before Christmas, Misaki's new book was published. It was snowing out there, giving everybody the feeling of Christmas and a peaceful, loving winter. Misaki was standing in front of the bookstore, staring at his new book.

 ** _Asakura Toshio_**

 ** _Change my world_**

The idea of the title was actually Usagi's. He'd proofread everything Misaki had written – even if it was only two words to a half done sentence. Usagi wanted to know about it, he wanted to know how the boy's book got done word by word, letter by letter. And Misaki was very grateful for that.

"Wow! Asakura-sensei's new book is out!" a girl next to him screamed, and Misaki almost jumped.

"Do you realise his books are about lesbians?" another girl asked.

"Who the hell cares? The debut novel was so great I couldn't put it down!"

Misaki was listening to those girls chatter carefully, his face lit up as he heard positive responses about his first book. It warmed his heart up. He walked away, still smiling, and he never noticed Usami Akihiko and Ijuuin Kyou walking into the same bookstore he just left.

* * *

A great novelist and a great manga artist walked into a bookstore. Everyone was looking at them silently, some people even tried to take secret pictures of them together. _It must be a lucky day… or the end of the world._ Two famous people in the same bookstore… together…

What's the joke?

 _The unbearable hatred they carry against each other_ would be the answer to that question.

Usami Akihiko was smiling while quietly talking to Ijuuin Kyou.

Ijuuin Kyou was smiling while responding to Usami Akihiko.

Those two walked towards Usami's books first, and they both grabbed two different books – one of them was a happy, delighted one while the other contained depression and loneliness.

"This one might be my favourite," Ijuuin said, throwing that fake smile Usami hated.

"I really don't give a crap, sensei. Why are we here anyway?"

"Hmm…" Ijuuin pretended to think about the answer, then his face lit up as he looked Usami deep in the eyes. "Let me quote you, sensei… _'Only the strongest one might stand. Only the strongest one can have what they wish to have. And the weak? The weak shall fall. The weak shall not exist in the world of the strongest.'_ Am I right?"

"I'm glad you could memorise such a _long_ paragraph," Usami said sarcastically. "So clever."

"But tell me, Usami-sensei… Who might be the strongest? And who might be the weak? Who can have what they wish to have?"

Usami wanted to punch him in the face. Instead, he drew a deep breath and calmed his nerves. _I have to be collected if I want to beat this rat._

"It's all up to the reader's fantasy," he said with a smile. "If you give too many details and leave no small holes to be filled by the readers, they will never read your books again."

"Such a fair point," Ijuuin nodded and put the book back to the shelf. "A fair point by the newbie _Ueno Aiko_."

"I knew you would be smart enough to notice."

For a moment, Usami could see Ijuuin's smile vanishing. He knew he won this round. But then the mangaka smiled again. "Of course I am."

They walked towards a shelf full of new authors' books. Amongst the firsts, there was Usami's newest book. _Circus by Ueno Aiko_ , it said. Ijuuin reached for his bag and pulled his new manga out. _The Kan – Season of Romance_.

"Such a big difference," he sighed, still having that annoying smile on his face.

"Indeed. But don't forget that I prefer different genres of art. Different styles."

"I can see that…"

Usami lifted his new book, and flipped the pages until he found the pages which Ijuuin quoted. _The weak shall not exist…_

"Usagi?" someone said his name, and they both spun around to see who it was. "It's been a while! I've never expected you to be here!"

Ijuuin tilted his head to the side, questioning the random stranger's identity. On the other hand, Usami's heart skipped a beat. He knew if he asked why that person is here, there would be a huge twist. He took a step, and grabbed him by the arm.

"I'm sorry, Ijuuin-sensei, you'll have to wait a minute."

He walked away with the person Ijuuin didn't know. When they were far enough from the mangaka, Usami turned towards him.

"Why are you here, Takahiro?"

Takahiro smiled at him, "I came to check out Misaki's new book. I haven't even checked his debut novel yet."

Usagi's heart skipped a beat again, his face got pale. As far as he remembered, they never told Takahiro that Misaki, his little brother published Girls' Love novels. All Usagi knew that he was in a deep trouble now – on one side, Takahiro wanted to see Misaki's books, and he wasn't sure if Misaki even wanted his brother to read them. And on the other side, Ijuuin Kyou, the mangaka he hated, was waiting for him. And he didn't know about Misaki's author career.

Usagi sighed.

"The books are only in certain stores," he said. Then he regretted saying that because Takahiro just asked:

"Which ones?"

He closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them, "I'm sure you can find them in this store, too."

Takahiro's face lit up, "I'm so glad! Help me find it?"

"I'm sorry, but" he glanced at Ijuuin who was standing at the same spot Usagi left him, patient, "I have a really important meeting now."

"But you could at least tell me where I can find them!"

 _Did he even tell his brother that he's publishing books with a different name?_

"I believe it's around that corner," he pointed to the left side of the store. "I have to go now. It was nice meeting you, Takahiro."

Usagi turned around and left Takahiro there. As he walked back to Ijuuin, he had no idea what was worse – trying to come up with something to Takahiro or spend his whole day with this mangaka. He had a headache. A bad one.

* * *

When Misaki got back home, he couldn't find Usagi. He checked his room, the guest room, even the bathroom, but he was nowhere. _Stupid Usagi…_ he thought as he checked the mails he brought up from the mailbox. One of them was from Fujioka – she mailed a fan letter to Misaki. The boy quickly opened it. He was nervous as always when he'd gotten a fan letter.

 _Dear Asakura-sensei,_

 _I would like to thank for your hard work. I loved your debut novel, and I love your newest one. It's become my biggest dream to meet you for a talk. Keep up the good work._

 _Ayuzawa Mei_

Misaki smiled. He knew he couldn't just randomly meet up with every fan he'd got. He thought about it countless times – how nice it would be too meet his fans during a signing or something. Usagi met his fans a lot of times, though he hated these events. Misaki was sure he wouldn't hate them, in fact, he would totally enjoy them. He lied down on the couch, still smiling like a child. When he started writing he never thought his books would sell this good and he would have fans. _Fans_.

For an hour or more, he was just staring at the ceiling, trying to come up with ideas, but this time he was blocked. His brain was blocked. He almost fell asleep when the main door opened. As he sat up he saw Usagi walking into the living room, looking like a living dead.

"Oh my god, Usagi-san, what happened to you?" he asked as he ran towards him to help him out. He walked him to the couch.

"Let's not mention what happened to me," Usagi growled, rubbing his temples. "Your new book is selling well."

"I know!" Misaki said enthusiastically. "I'm so happy!"

"So am I."

"You don't look happy at all!" he scolded Usagi playfully. "You look pretty exhausted. Don't you wanna go and rest?"

Usagi growled, "I should… I had a long day."

Misaki looked at him, confused, but he just tossed Usagi into the bathroom without questioning his tiredness. He sat back onto the couch and stared at the wall blankly. _I just started and I'm out of ideas already…_

As he was deep in his thoughts, he slowly slid down the couch, and fell asleep on it. Usagi, as he always did when Misaki had fallen asleep at impossible places, put a blanket on him.

And he smiled.

* * *

The next day Misaki decided to clean the whole house. It had been a while since he had done a deep clean, so he thought it was time to do it again.

"Oh, Misaki, I forgot to tell you," Usagi at one point said, "I met Takahiro yesterday."

"Did you?" Misaki turned towards him as he was standing on a stool, cleaning the top of the kitchen cabinet.

"Yeah. He was looking for your books."

"What?" Misaki almost fell off of the stool. "Oh my god, I've never told him about what kind of books I've published."

"I know. I guess he didn't find it, but he gave me a hard time as I was meeting up with I–"

"Huh?"

Usagi shook his head quickly, "I was just meeting an old friend in that bookstore. Then I ran into Takahiro."

"I'm actually glad you didn't show him my books. I'm not sure what he would say," Misaki sighed in relief. "But I should totally tell him. He's my brother after all."

"That's right."

Misaki jumped off the stool, and stretched. The kitchen was finally done. As he turned around, he saw Usagi sitting in the living room, looking stressful.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

Usagi yawned, "Yeah, I'm fine. I just need to get away from… from certain people."

"You mean nii-chan?" Misaki laughed.

"No. I'm just kidding."

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Hey guys! Ugh, it's been a while... again. ^^' Sorry for the rare update, I'm trying to catch up on activity. I hope you like this new chapter, and as always, I'm super grateful for the reviews, follows and favourites. I love hearing from you guys. :3**

 _ **Ricchan**_


	12. Chapter 12

"Ijuuin-sensei?"

Yanase was following the mangaka around the big bookstore. Ijuuin was smiling and cheerful as always, but Yanase could sense that there was something wrong. Something happened. And he didn't like this atmosphere around the mangaka.

"I think I'm starting to get what's going on here," he smiled, and his assistant took a step back.

He definitely didn't like this. Ijuuin was holding a few books in his hand, reading one of them, so Yanase decided to make a phone call meanwhile. He walked a few steps away where Ijuuin couldn't hear him.

"Yeah?" a bored, sharp voice said.

"It's me," Yanase said. "I have absolutely no idea what to do now. He said he knows what's going on. But the real question is – what the heck is going on?"

"Calm down," Shizuku sighed. "All I know is that he'd met Usami-sensei a few days ago. And it didn't go quite as he expected. Usami plays this game too well, and Ijuuin-sensei might fall."

Yanase turned around to see what Ijuuin was doing. He was still flipping pages after pages in a book.

"You need to tell me what happened."

* * *

Usagi knew it. Usagi knew that Ijuuin would know who Ueno Aiko was. And he also knew that Ijuuin would read that book. The most entertaining thing about it was that it pissed Ijuuin off. Usagi knew that Ijuuin tried to seduce Misaki through The Kan, and he knew that Ijuuin would find out about his new pen name.

This whole thing was like a chess board – and Usagi was very close to play and beat Ijuuin. The author was the white king on this board, and Ijuuin was the black. Misaki, the white queen had to be protected. But there's something Usagi didn't expect.

 _"_ _Say, Usami-sensei," Ijuuin turned to him while they left the bookstore. "Have you heard about the new author at Marukawa?"_

 _"_ _There's quite a few, please specify," Usami said, but he knew Ijuuin was talking about Misaki._

 _"_ _Asakura-sensei is who I'm talking about."_

 _"_ _Oh, right."_

 _"_ _Seems like you'll have a new rival," Ijuuin laughed._

 _"_ _As if…"_

 _It was hard for Usagi to hide how irritated he was by Ijuuin acting like he knew everything._

 _"_ _But seriously," the mangaka stopped in front of him and looked him in the eyes. "Watch out. He published some awesome books for a beginner author."_

 _Before Usagi could have said anything, Ijuuin walked away without saying goodbye._

So, Ijuuin happened to keep an eye on Misaki, even though he had no idea it's actually him. Usagi sighed loudly as he was lying on the coach.

* * *

"I take it Ijuuin's plans aren't going well," Yanase sighed. On the other side, Shizuku growled into the phone.

"There's one more thing."

"What is it?"

"If Usami-sensei finds it out, he might murder Ijuuin," Shizuku whispered, and a sweat drop rolled down on Yanase's face. "After meeting Usami, Ijuuin-sensei didn't go home."

"What do you mean?"

"He followed Usami-sensei home, and met someone who's now in this twist."

"Jesus Christ, Shizuku, get to the point!" Yanase said it so loud that people around him turned toward him. Luckily, Ijuuin didn't seem to hear him.

"He saw Asakura Toshio's editor walking out of the panel house Usami's apartment is in."

"So what?"

"He overheard them talking about Asakura Toshio, and they mentioned Takahashi's name as well. So you can guess what might be on Ijuuin's mind now."

Yanase rubbed his forehead, "Does he think that Asakura-sensei is Takahashi? No fucking way!"

"I mean, it makes sense if you think about it."

Yanase sighed as he hung up and walked back to Ijuuin. He was reading a different book now, and Yanase felt more and more irritated.

 _Why the hell don't you just give up that guy?_

* * *

"What if we hold a fan meeting after your fifth book?"

A few weeks after New Year's Eve and after publishing Misaki's second book, Fujioka called him on the phone to talk about important events.

"I'll have to think about it," Misaki said as he tried to pull away from Usagi who was constantly eavesdropping.

"Alright, we still have plenty of time until then, but it's never too soon to talk about it, is it?" she laughed and hung up.

Misaki put his phone down and turned to face Usagi.

"Why the hell are you doing this all the time?"

"I could never know what that editor might tell you."

"Jesus, she's just an _editor_!" Misaki sighed. "She was asking me about fan meetings."

"Was she?"

"Yeah. But I'm not sure it would be a good idea."

Usagi looked at him questioningly, "Why?"

"You know, people who I happened to know as Misaki might read my books and not know it's actually me. This way I'm famous yet no one knows who I am."

Usagi nodded, and Misaki knew he was agreeing with him. Then all of a sudden, Usagi pulled him close for a kiss.

"What the heck?"

"Just a kiss, what else?"

Feeling irritated, Misaki walked up into his room and closed the door. _Stupid Usagi,_ he thought as he sat down with his laptop ready. He had no idea what his next book should be about so he just kept on spinning and spinning around in his chair when Usagi knocked on his door.

"What?"

"May I come in?"

"Sure…"

Usagi slowly walked to the bed and sat down, cigarette in his mouth, "Are you thinking about your new book?"

"How did you know?" Misaki chuckled.

"I used to do the same when I was an amateur. I mean, spinning around in the chair."

"Amateur?" the brunet frowned. "I don't think you've ever been an amateur."

"Everybody starts as that," Usagi said, blowing out a small smoke-cloud. "The more you do it the more you improve."

"Yeah, that's right." Misaki sighed as he stood up from his chair and sat beside Usagi. "But you were on a different level back then than I am now."

"Well, that's true," Usagi laughed, and wrapped his arm around Misaki's shoulder. The brunet blushed. "You'll be great. Especially with my help."

"Egoist!" Misaki pulled away, but he smiled.

They sat on the bed in silence, and Misaki thought that Usagi might be right – he will definitely get better with his help. With him by his side. To this thought, his heart throbbed, and he blushed again.

"What's on your mind?" Usagi asked, and Misaki just realised the man was watching him all along.

"N-nothing," he mumbled. "I'll go get a shower!"

"I'm coming, too."

Later, after a refreshing shower, Usagi pulled Misaki into bed, and held him close. Misaki was slightly annoyed by this, but at the same time, it felt good to be in Usagi's arms.

"What do you think nii-chan would say if I told him I was writing Girls' Love novels?" he asked out of the blue, and it seemed to surprise Usagi.

"I… don't know. I don't think he would be mad or angry if that's what you mean."

"Do you think I should tell him?"

Usagi smiled and kissed his forehead, "Definitely."

And Misaki decided to talk to his brother.

* * *

"Girls' Love?" Takahiro asked, frowning.

A couple of days later, Misaki called his brother to visit him and Usagi so he can tell him about what kind of books he was writing. He had told him about his pen name, the genre, and everything his brother had to know.

"Yeah."

"Asakura Toshio, you said?"

"Yeah."

Takahiro was gently massaging the back of his head while thinking, "I think I've come across that name in the bookstore. The same day I met Usagi."

"Oh, right, he told me about that," Misaki nodded.

"Well, that kind of stuff is not really my thing, but I'll read it because it's written by my little brother!" Takahiro gave a big hug to Misaki, and the boy hugged him back with a smile.

"Nii-chan…"

"I'm glad I finally know what books to look for, I was trying to find them honestly."

Misaki chuckled, "I'm sorry."

Takahiro looked at him with a gentle, loving smile, "Is that all you wanted to tell me?"

Misaki frowned and tilted his head to the side, "What do you mean?"

"Nothing, I was just wondering if there's anything else," Takahiro shrugged.

Misaki and Usagi looked at each other, then Misaki's heart skipped a beat. If there's something to tell Takahiro, that would be about their relationship. But Misaki wasn't ready at all.

"What's wrong, guys?" Glancing at Takahiro, it was obvious that Misaki's reaction to his own thoughts confused his brother.

"Takahiro, actually there's something you should know–" Usagi started, but Misaki kicked his leg under the table.

"M-My editor wants to hold a fan meeting after my fifth book, but I d-don't know if I should be into it o-or not," Misaki yelled, his heart was racing from fear. That silly Usagi almost said it without a warning!

"Really?" Takahiro asked, his eyes sparkling. "That's so good! You should totally do it!"

An hour later, when Takahiro was gone, Misaki turned to Usagi. He was upset. That silly man almost told Takahiro about their relationship without even talking about it to him.

"What?" Usagi asked as he faced Misaki.

"You scared the living hell out of me!"

"Sorry, Misaki, but you should have told him about us by now…"

"Stop forcing me!" he growled. "I'm heading to my room. I have an essay to write for Kamijou-sensei."

Before Usagi could say something, Misaki closed the door behind himself.

* * *

Yanase had been spending the past few days with Ijuuin-sensei, watching out for him before he could do something stupid. He wished the mangaka would stop this mess and go on with his life without Takahashi. What he found out about Ijuuin from Shizuku exhausted his mind. It was obvious that Usami was winning this fight, and Misaki wasn't willing to hook up with Ijuuin at all. Why would he even chase someone unreachable?

It was late in the night, and Yanase was walking behind Ijuuin on the crowded sidewalk. The mangaka held a book in his hand – Asakura Toshio's book. He had read the first book this new author published, and now he was reading the second. He didn't even look up from the pages. It was irritating Yanase.

 _Why do I always fall in love with people like him?_

He almost bumped into someone, and while apologising, he noticed that Ijuuin was crossing the street, but the lamp was red. He didn't know how they got separated in such a short time, but he had to run after Ijuuin, and luckily, he could pull him back to the sidewalk before a bus hit him. They both fell over, moreover, Ijuuin fell on Yanase.

"Yanase-kun…"

"You stupid idiot!" Yanase yelled as he slapped Ijuuin in the face. His heart was racing as the man scared him. "Put that damn book down at least while crossing the god damn street!"

"Yanase…"

Ijuuin was gently holding his face where Yanase slapped him. The boy then stood up and helped him, too.

"What the hell is so special about that story? You've never been the careless type of person."

Ijuuin laughed, "If my intentions are correct, it's written by the person I love."

 _Takahashi…?_

Yanase looked the mangaka in the eyes, and his heart broke. He then grabbed ijuuin's coat and pulled him after himself.

"Yanase-kun, what are you doing?"

"I'm leading you home before you kill yourself!"

That night, Yanase decided to have a talk with Takahashi Misaki.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Hey, guys! Thanks for reading, favouriting and following, but most importantly, huge thanks for the reviews! They keep me going with this story. x3**

 **I'm sorry for the inactivity, I'll try my very best to update as soon as possible!**

 **A few chapters before I said I don't know how many chapters I will write to this story, and I still have no idea. xD It's going to be pretty long, i think. ^^' Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and like the story so far. :)**

 _ **Ricchan**_


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N #1**

 **One of you guys asked me a question about ch12 that needs to be answered here and now before we get to ch13:**

 **\- No, Ijuuin isn't suicidal. He was reading a book (as I stated in the story) and he didn't look up to make sure he can cross the street. He walked without being careful, he was just careless, he didn't mean to kill himself or jump in front of a bunch of cars. I needed to make this clear.**

 **Enjoy! ^^**

* * *

Misaki was confused about why he was sitting in one of Marukawa's office with four other people – Shizuku, Usagi, Fujioka and Yanase. He kept blinking at them one by one until Yanase had finally spoken.

"There's a very good reason we're all here," he said.

"I really hope so," Usagi replied, his voice was sharp, his face showed impatience. "My time is precious, you know."

"Everyone's time is," Shizuku mumbled, but Yanase made him go silent.

"It's about Ijuuin-sensei."

Misaki got even more confused, and Usagi frowned in irritation.

"What's wrong with him?" Fujioka asked since no one seemed to react.

"Last time he met Usami-sensei," Yanase looked at Usagi, "he followed him to his apartment, and saw you two."

"What?" Usagi's fist clenched. "How the hell?"

"And since he knows that Fujioka-san is the editor of Asakura-sensei, now he thinks Asakura is Takahashi."

Fujioka seemed to try her hardest to come up with something while Usagi's eyes widened. In between of them, Misaki was sitting in complete shock, his face went pale.

"E-excuse me, Yanase-san, w-what did you just say?" he stuttered.

"For me, it quite makes sense," Shizuku spoke quietly. "On the other hand, Yanase doesn't really believe it. I'm not saying that it's true, but then how would you explain Usami-sensei and Fujioka meeting at Usami's place and mentioning both Takahashi and Asakura in the same topic?"

Usagi's surprised expression changed, and his lips curled into an impressed smile.

"That stupid mangaka…"

"I personally think there's no point in hiding it anymore," Fujioka said, her arms are folded.

"I agree," Misaki nodded, and looked at Yanase and Shizuku. "Ijuuin-sensei is right, Asakura Toshio is my pen name."

"So, it's true," Shizuku exhaled long. "I don't know what he plans to do with this information, but he didn't look completely sure about it when he talked to me, so don't tell him, okay?"

"I don't think I want him to know," Misaki shook his head. "Why would he care anyway?"

Shizuku and Yanase looked at each other.

"No idea," Yanase said. "But there's some trouble coming so watch out."

"I've been aware of that," Usagi mumbled. "That man is trouble itself."

Everybody laughed except Misaki.

"What if he's eavesdropping right now?" the boy asked, panicking. "What if…?"

"Calm down!" Yanase rolled his eyes. "I made sure he stays at home today."

Misaki let out a shaky breath, and Yanase's words calmed his nerves a little. He didn't want trouble. He just wanted peace.

* * *

"You can't work with him anymore!"

Later, when they got home from the meeting, Usagi was still all worked up, walking up and down in the living room, lighting cigarette after cigarette.

"I'm making a living here," Misaki sighed. "Yes, I admit, it's dangerous… But I still have to work, and I have to do what my superiors tell me to do."

"I'm sorry, what?" Usagi stopped, taking the cigarette out of his mouth, exhaling a long, grey smoke almost into Misaki's face. "You don't have to make a living, I got you all covered."

"I would still feel totally bad if I didn't go to work. Plus try to explain this to nii-chan!"

"This is why I keep insisting you tell him about us!"

Facing each other, Misaki could feel a very strong tension between them, something that he had never felt before even though he had faced Usagi countless times. There were things that had to be settled, and he knew it well. He had to talk to Takahiro sooner or later, and he had to avoid Ijuuin as well – or at least try and make him believe that he is not Asakura Toshio.

"Everything's upside down," he murmured as he sat down, burying his face into his palms. "I know what I have to do. I just don't know how to do it."

"I'm right beside you, Misaki," Usagi pulled him closer, and squeezed him, "I'll help if I can."

"I know, but… the question is that even if Ijuuin-sensei knows, what could he do with this information?"

"Blackmail, I guess," Usagi sighed. "He loves you, and he will do whatever it takes to get you, although I don't think he would be that cruel. But it's still an option."

"I have to agree," Misaki said quietly.

"You have matured…"

"Shut up!"

They both laughed, then Misaki – for both of their surprise – leaned back against Usagi's chest. It made him feel comfortable and safe. He was in his arms, he was loved, and he was secure. That night, he decided not to start a new novel. Not just yet. He has two published, he needed a little break.

Misaki went to bed with Usagi, and fell asleep in his arms while listening to his heartbeat. He was calm. He found a little peace.

* * *

"I finished!"

Both Yanase and Shizuku looked up from their work when, after a long, long time, Ijuuin suddenly spoke.

"Finished what?" Shizuku asked in a bored tone.

"The book from Asakura Toshio. What else?" Ijuuin chuckled, and gently placed the book on the table. "I haven't started my new project yet, give me a little break, please."

"Never said you should start it anytime soon," the black-haired editor rolled his eyes. "I was just curious."

"I wonder if this book was really written by the person I–"

"Why don't you just stop?" Yanase raised his voice as he spoke to Ijuuin. "Whoever had written this has nothing to do with you anyway!"

Ijuuin laughed, "What are you talking about?"

Yanase's fist clenched as he stood up from the table, and left the mangaka's apartment. He ran down the stairs, and as the cold wind and snow touched his skin, he realised he had forgotten to put on at least his hoodie. Sighing in irritation, he walked down the street without knowing where to go. He ended up in a deserted park, the ground was covered in white snow lighted by the street lights. He sat on one of the swings, and crossed his arms. He was cold, but he didn't want to go back to Ijuuin's place and grab his winter coat. He was mad, he was heart-broken, and all he could do was yelling at the person he loved.

 _This is such a stupid, twisted joke..._

He still remembered when he was madly in love with Yoshino Chiaki. Then he watched another man loving him, having him while he couldn't have him, he couldn't be with him. Now, after forgetting about Chiaki, he had fallen in love with this stupid mangaka, and everything is the same – he watches Ijuuin loving someone else he can't have, and he doesn't seem to give up. With tears in his eyes, Yanase kicked the snow and let his tears flow down on his cheek.

"This swing is just not your size," he heard Ijuuin's voice behind him, but didn't turn around. "Here, have your coat."

Yanase looked up and took the coat. "How did you know?"

"I know you well enough to know where to look for you," Ijuuin chuckled.

"It seems so…"

For a long moment they sat in silence, then Ijuuin stood up.

"The Christmas market is still open, do you wanna look around?"

Yanase nodded, and followed him to the market. It was all lit up and crowded. He was deep in his mind, he felt strange to walk around with his mangaka. As he was looking around, he found a lot of special things he could give Ijuuin as a Christmas present. He smiled at the idea, but then he shook his head. Then he looked around once again, and realised he had lost Ijuuin in the crowd. He went running, bumping into people as he was looking for the mangaka. It didn't take too long to find him. He was looking at some nicely decorated Christmas gifts.

"How did you end up here? I was looking for you!"

"Oh, were you?" Ijuuin frowned. "I thought you were right here."

Yanase rolled his eyes, "Why are we here anyway?"

"I got you upset, and I wanted to make it right," Ijuuin said with guilt on his face. "I'm sorry."

"It's not like I was upset…" _That's a lie... I still am._ "I'm just… I'm just trying to protect you from breaking your heart and get rejected."

Ijuuin smiled at Yanase, "Come on!"

They headed to the end of the market where hardly any people were, and Yanase was glad they finally escaped the crowd. They walked on a silent, quite dark street, snow covered their coats and hair.

"You still don't seem to give up on that kid, do you?"

"Why would I?"

"Because" Yanase turned towards Ijuuin, and looked him in the eyes, "you should open your eyes and see what happens around you. You could have things better than this. You could have someone you don't have to chase for the rest of your life!"

"Yanase, what–"

"Takahashi is never going to be yours, he will never leave Usami-sensei's side. Not even for you."

Ijuuin smiled again, but this time his smile was sad, and Yanase didn't like it, although he didn't feel like taking back what he had said.

"I know it," Ijuuin spoke, his voice shook. "I know I should've given up a long time ago. But… Yanase, have you ever been in love this much before?"

Yanase narrowed his eyes. He felt a little offended by this question, "Yes. And you know what? I watched that person love someone else, just like you do now!"

The mangaka started to cry silently, and this was the first time Yanase had seen him like this. He was broken, he was fragile, and he was so… innocent.

"If I could give up on that person, even though that person was a friend from university, then you can give up on a random fan of yours."

Ijuuin didn't say anything, just nodded while wiping his tears away. Yanase slowly reached out and touched his cold fingers, then interlinked them with his own as he stepped closer and gently kissed the mangaka.

* * *

A week later, Misaki was at work at Marukawa, sorting papers and fan letter as usual. He met Kirishima just right before that, and he told him that he will hardly work with ijuuin-sensei as the mangaka requested it. For a moment, Misaki felt offended and hurt, but as he thought about it, he realised it was for the best. No more awkward moments.

Just a little while ago, Yanase and Shizuku said there was a storm coming up, but… this storm didn't seem to approach. He was wondering what might have happened, but then he just shrugged. As long as he can be in peace again, does it even matter?

Later that day, Misaki was walking in the corridor. He was going to hand some documents to Emerald Department, and on his way, he passed Ijuuin by.

"Hello, Takahashi!" he greeted, but didn't stop to talk as he usually did, and it surprised Misaki. He turned around to see if it was really him. It was, but Ijuuin was talking to someone while walking into a meeting room. It was strange. But it didn't matter.

It was nine when he got back home finally. As he entered the house, Usagi walked up to him for a hug.

"You can't imagine what just happened today!" he said, and Misaki raised his eyebrows.

"Did you finally learn how to cook or something?"

"So funny… No, I went to Marukawa today–"

"Didn't see you there."

"It doesn't matter, but I met Ijuuin, and guess what?"

"What?"

"He didn't give a damn about me. I mean, whenever he saw me he'd smile like an evil di–"

"Usagi-san, language!"

"He was being a jerk all the time we met, but now he just walked past me."

"Speaking of which, the same had happened to me, too."

Usagi leaned against the counter as he watched Misaki chopping some vegetables for dinner, "Does this mean that…"

"He has finally given up on me, it seems, yeah." Misaki looked up and stopped chopping. "I wonder what had happened."

"Those two editors probably," Usagi shrugged. "What really matters is that he lets you be. He lets us be.

Misaki had to agree. It was tiring to be torn between his lover and his beloved mangaka that tried to forcibly take him from Usagi.

Later that night, he couldn't get sleep, so he decided to write. His new book was going to be about his experiences. The things that happened to him lately. He created a draft with the plot and characters, sent it to Fujioka, and started to type.

One problem was solved.

* * *

 **A/N #2**

 **Hey guys! I really hope you enjoyed this chapter. There's one thing that got solved in this chapter, but there's still a few to go! I'll be back with ch14 soon.**

 **This is going to be a damn long story. xD**

 _ **Ricchan**_


	14. Chapter 14

A few months had passed, and now it'd been half a year since Misaki became an author. He had published three books during this time, and managed to write an essay to Kamijou as well, no wonder he was beyond proud of himself. One problem was solved in his life – Ijuuin Kyou didn't seem to try and take him from Usagi anymore, moreover, he was avoiding him. They had some small talks once in a while, but the mangaka was quiet around him, and Misaki could have sworn that the man was… confused. Well, he at least seemed so.

Winter had passed, and Misaki was excited to see the cherry blossoms. He thought they would inspire him to write the new book of his. His previous one turned out to be a mind-blowing one, a bestseller. It was a great idea to write about what he had experienced – becoming an author, being stuck between Ijuuin and Usagi, and so on. People loved his new novel which wasn't really focusing on Girls' Love, but life itself. Of course it contains Girls' Love, but it was different.

Fujioka and Usagi were so proud that they threw a little party for him at Usagi's place; they even invited Takahiro and his family. Fujioka seemed to love Mahiro a lot.

When it came around the end of March, Misaki graduated. And this was the first time when he saw Usagi crying. He cried too, and so did Takahiro.

"I wish mum and dad could see you right now, Misaki," he said while tears rolled down on his slightly red cheek.

"I wish so too, Nii-chan," Misak replied, and hugged his brother.

Takahashi Misaki, age twenty-three, was now a freshly graduated author.

* * *

Someone was knocking on the door, but Yanase couldn't be bothered to open it. He was lying on the couch, slowly breathing, trying to calm his nerves.

It's been three months. Three months since he had last seen Ijuuin. Back in December, when they left the Christmas Market, and Yanase kissed him, Ijuuin seemed to avoid him. Yanase didn't know what to think or do. He tried to contact him countless times to at least say sorry and ask how the new act of The Kan was going, but he couldn't reach him. Kirishima told him a week after the kiss that Ijuuin is willing to work only with Shizuku, and wanted Yanase to take a break or go back to Yoshikawa-sensei for a while.

Someone knocked again. _Damn it…_ he thought as he stood up to open the door. It was Shizuku.

"What is it?"

"I came to check up on you, what else?" he murmured as he let himself into Yanase's apartment. "I haven't seen you in ages. What's going on?"

"You haven't heard?" Yanase lied back on the couch and closed his eyes.

"You mean Ijuuin requesting to ditch both you and Takahashi? Oh, I did hear about it. But that doesn't mean you have to avoid me."

"Look, I have a lot of work with Yoshikawa, that mangaka is a pain in the ass, so leave me be."

"Yanase…" Shizuku sighed and sat down to the table, across from the couch. "Ijuuin doesn't seem to be okay, and I don't know what to do. You have been working with him more than me, you should know."

Yanase sighed in irritation and rolled his eyes, "He keeps avoiding me, I can't reach him, and he doesn't want to work with me, it's a clear sign that he doesn't want me to be around him anymore."

Silence fell between the two of them, and all Yanase wanted to be left alone, he wanted Shizuku to go away, but that didn't happen. He kept sitting at the table, being deep inside his mind, probably trying to find answers.

"I have to ask something," he spoke, and Yanase slowly turned towards him.

"What is it?"

"What happened between you and Ijuuin after you left his apartment back in December?"

* * *

"Just remember, Misaki, fan meeting after your fifth book!"

As Fujioka left the apartment, Usagi chuckled.

"So she really said something like this."

"What do you mean?" Misaki asked as he walked to the kitchen to wash the dishes.

"I remember when you told Takahiro what kind of books you're writing, and I was gonna tell him we're dating, and you kicked me and said this instead. I thought you only came up with this at that moment."

Misaki laughed, "No, I didn't."

"But are you aware of–"

"Yes, I know I have to tell him," Misaki sighed nervously. "Just give me some more time, okay?"

"Sure, but how much time do you need? I mean, it's been three years, he's gonna get offended."

Misaki stopped washing the dished, his mind filled with thought about his brother getting mad and angry with him or both of them. And the possibility of this was high, he knew it. But still, he couldn't get himself to stand in front of his brother and tell him that he's dating his best friend. What would Takahiro even say? Misaki tried to think about it countless times, but he always gave up on it. He didn't want to imagine his brother getting angry because of his relationship with Usagi, and he didn't want him to maybe… maybe hate them.

"What am I going to do?" was his thought but he ended up saying it out loud.

"You have to get it together and do it," Usagi replied, and walked closer. "I'm always here to help."

Misaki looked up at Usagi, and nodded. Then, like a storm, an idea crossed his mind.

"I gotta go!"

"Huh? Where?" Usagi frowned, but Misaki was already running up the stairs.

"My room. I have an idea."

He closed the door behind himself, opened a new document on his laptop, and started typing. _God knew everything around me could be an inspiration for a book._

* * *

Shizuku was looking at Yanase in complete shock after hearing his story. Yanase was avoiding eye contact with him, even though he didn't give a damn about what Shizuku thought about it. It happened, and there's nothing to do now.

"So… you kissed him…"

"Yeah."

"And he…"

"He never spoke to me again since then, yes, that's what happened," Yanase said. He felt irritated. He told this to Shizuku for the third time already.

"Awkward…"

"What?"

"Nothing… uhm… Well… Look, Yanase, even if this is what happened, you can't just close yourself into you apartment for the rest of your life!"

"Oh, of course I can!"

"For Christ's sake, you have a fricking job!" Shizuku yelled. "You have responsibilities. You're an adult, whether you like it or not."

Yanase sighed and sat up on the couch, and faced Shizuku for the first time since he entered the apartment, "I'm working with Yoshikawa-sensei at the moment, and Ijuuin-sensei stated that he doesn't need me. What can I do then? Nothing."

"Yes, you can! You get up of that couch, get dressed and face him!"

"I can't face him, don't you understand?" Yanase raised his voice and stood up. "Look, I fucking kissed him while he was crying about Takahashi and now he's avoiding me and I'm doing the same, it's for the best."

Shizuku rolled his eyes, rubbed his temples, and sighed. Who knew a drama of a man was this irritating…

Then he suddenly stood up, and grabbed Yanase by the arm.

"What the–"

"Get up!"

"Shizuku–"

"I said… get… the fuck… up!"

Yanase tried to pull his arm away, but Shizuku was grabbing it too tight. Then he dragged him up from the couch, and out the door to the lift.

"Where the hell are we going?"

"We're getting you together."

When the lift reached the ground floor, Shizuku kept dragging him through the hall.

"Get in," he said when they reached his car.

"Jesus Christ, Shizuku, what the hell?"

Shizuku didn't answer, just drove down the road to an apartment block. Yanase's heart skipped a beat when he realised where they were going.

"Let me out!"

"Yanase, you're going to figure this out, okay! You don't have to buy a bouquet of roses, just say sorry and get over it. Both of you!"

Shizuku parked his car, and since Yanase didn't seem to move, he dragged him into the hall. In the lift, Yanase was trembling, he felt terribly nervous.

 _Shizuku, you idiot…_

Shizuku literally tossed Yanase to Ijuuin's door, knocked and nodded towards Yanase while running down the stairs. Yanase wanted to yell 'don't leave me here', but it was too late. The door opened, and Ijuuin seemed a little confused to see him there. On the other hand, Yanase was terrified.

"Hey," he ended up saying, and Ijuuin frowned.

"What are you doing here?" he asked slowly, and Yanase could have sworn he saw a little smile on his face.

"I– uh, Shizuku dragged me here."

Ijuuin got more confused, "Why?"

"Shit, let's stop playing around, you gonna let me in?"

"Shouldn't you use formal language to me? I'm a mangaka after all…"

Yanase ignored what Ijuuin said, "I think we need to talk."

Ijuuin turned his gaze down and sighed heavily. Arms folded, he seemed as nervous as Yanase was.

"Take a seat."

Yanase sat down, and the mangaka sat right next to him. As the boy looked up at him, he could see the dark circles under his eyes.

"You don't sleep much, do you?"

"I guess this is not what you wanna talk about."

"Right… Well… You know, about that…"

Ijuuin ran his fingers through his hair as he gulped, "I didn't mean to avoid you, Yanase, really…"

"Then what?" Yanase raised his voice again, and looked at the mangaka. "You didn't mean to, yet you did it."

"I was confused!"

Now the two of them were looking right into each other's eyes, tension built between them. Both of them were breathing heavily, hands shaking slightly.

"Confused?" Yanase narrowed his eyes.

"Yes, I– I'm sorry to say this, but you made things pretty difficult."

"How?"

Ijuuin sat in silence for a moment before he spoke, "The things you said about my feelings for Takahashi-kun broke my heart, even if I knew all these things already. But you were right, and you opened my eyes."

"Did I?"

"Yeah," Ijuuin nodded. "I was madly in love with him, and got my heart broken, and then… then you said there might be someone who would love and appreciate me. I never thought it was true. I was trying to fight for Takahashi because I thought his feelings for Usami weren't too strong. I was wrong. And then… then you kissed me, and you proved that there's indeed someone who loves me. But…" Ijuuin's voice suddenly went quiet, and as he turned to look at Yanase, his eyes were tearing up. "I still have to figure it out whether I love you back or not."

Yanase turned away, he just couldn't look at him anymore. He sighed and started laughing loudly, and he could feel Ijuuin's glance on him.

"You probably don't," he said and stood up. It was enough. Enough of this talk about them and their stupid feelings!

He walked out of the apartment, took the lift to the ground floor, and left the building. A part of him expected Ijuuin to run after him, grab his arms and pull him back into the apartment, but the other part of him knew it wouldn't happen. He knew how it would end – Ijuuin will never love him back.

* * *

"Hello, nii-chan!"

A few days ago, Misaki invited his brother to their place. He finally decided to tell him. Usagi was standing right behind him with a cigarette in his mouth. He seemed calm, but he wasn't, and Misaki knew it well.

"Misaki! Usagi! Thank you for the invitation!" Takahiro said cheerfully. "But we've just met a few days ago during Misaki's graduation ceremony. What's the matter?"

Misaki looked at Usagi, and the man smiled at him as he took the cigarette out of his mouth.

"We need to talk, nii-chan," Misaki said. He was trembling, and he was scared. But now he was ready to face whatever had to come. Even if Takahiro turns his back on him for loving Usagi… he had to take the risk so he can stay with him.

"Sure thing," Takahiro nodded, and sat down in the living room. "What is it?"

Usagi and Misaki sat down across from Takahiro, and Misaki took another look at Usagi. He smiled and nodded, then they both faced Takahiro.

"It's about me and… me and Usag-san," Misaki started slowly, a single sweat drop rolled down on his cheek.

"What do you mean?" Takahiro frowned. "Did something happen? Did you guys fight or something?"

"No, not at all," Usagi shook his head.

"We– uh… We've been…" Misaki gulped. He couldn't look at his brother any longer, so he turned away, his face was red, and he was on the edge of crying. "We've been… dating… nii-chan."

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Hey guys! Cliffhanger, huh? That's not very me, but it happens I guess ^^' However, I didn't want to write it any longer, and I wanted to end the chapter where Misaki tells Takahiro about him and Usagi. Honestly, I wasn't sure if I wanted to put this in the story or not, but I changed my mind. Also I feel like the story doesn't go as I want it, but as it wants to go. xD The story writes me or something... *Ricchan tries to be funny but failed 2k18* Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this, and no worries, everything will turn out well or not so well in the end. Let's just see :3**

 **Thanks for the favs, reviews and follows, it helps me going!^^**

 _ **Ricchan**_

 **(P.S.: It was a quick update, even I am surprised, huh)**


	15. Chapter 15

Silence. Silence fell between the three of them, and Misaki was about to lose it. He couldn't take the stress anymore. He was going to say something to break this awkward, suffocating silence, but it felt like words got stuck in his burning throat. He was staring at his brother who seemed to try to figure things out as if Misaki wasn't clear.

"E… Excuse me… what?" Takahiro then finally spoke, disbelief on his face. He chuckled a little. "I– I know, Misaki, that sometimes you use words in the wrong context, so–"

"Nii-chan, this is not the case now," Misaki whispered with tears in his eyes. He wanted his brother to understand, to say something else. To say that he acknowledged it, to say he's okay with it.

Takahiro's mouth moved, but he didn't talk for a few seconds. Usagi seemed like he was about to say something, but the man then spoke, "How long? How long has it been?"

Misaki gulped. He couldn't talk anymore. If he talked now, he would just burst into tears, so he let Usagi do it.

"Three years," the silver-haired man said, and tried to stand Takahiro's disappointed, angry stare.

"Alright, you wanna tell me you've been dating my brother– my little brother who's ten years younger than you… for three fricking years?" Takahiro gasped for air, but still didn't raise his voice as he spoke.

"We were gonna tell you, but–"

"But what? What is the reason you chose him anyway? Of all people him? And how come I never knew you… you were gay?"

Usagi wanted to say something, he really wanted to, but he ended up like Misaki – the words got stuck. He just sat there, facing Takahiro, and Misaki didn't know what to do or say anymore. His brother was mad, he questioned their choices, and he just couldn't tell him why. Why did Usagi choose him? Why did he end up with Usagi?

"Nii-chan, I– I'm sorry," Misaki whispered through his tears. "I just wasn't ready until now."

Takahiro ran his finger through his hair, "I thought I was ready for whatever you wanted to tell me, but… For this, I wasn't ready either. So… three years, you say?"

"Yeah," Usagi nodded quietly.

"My best friend has been dating my beloved little brother for three years," Takahiro whispered, still in disbelief.

"It just… happened."

"I guess it happened as soon as Misaki moved to your place. Am I right?"

Misaki and Usagi looked at each other, then they nodded.

"Yes," Misaki said. "That's pretty much what happened."

Takahiro nodded, and licked his lips. Misaki could see that he didn't want to believe any of these things they told him.

"Alright," he then said as he stood up. "Just give me some time to uh– process the information."

With a fake smile on his face, Takahiro headed out of the apartment. Nor Usagi or Misaki tried to stop him, in fact, Misaki was still crying, and Usagi was very quiet. After Takahiro left, the brunet walked up to his room and closed the door. He lied on his bed, trying to figure out how to make this right. How to make his brother understand it. Misaki knew his brother was in denial, he didn't want to believe this. His little brother with his college best friend? No way! But it was true.

With tears in his eyes, Misaki slowly calmed down. Whether his brother liked it or not, he wanted to be with Usagi.

* * *

Misaki was biting his lips while facing Fujioka. The woman was standing right in front of him, fury on her face.

"This is the first time you're missing your deadline!" she said, taking a deep breath to calm down. "You were the hope of Marukawa! You were far the only one who got his job done in time!"

"Oi!" Usagi said in the background.

"I'm sorry, Usami-sensei, but this is true! I heard you're horrible with your deadlines. But anyway, Misaki, you need to hurry up with your new book, or I'll have to stay in this apartment to make sure you write that book."

Misaki exhaled long, "I'm sorry. I'll hurry up."

"Very good! Now I'll be going. Also, I'll need you to come to Marukawa tomorrow by 10 in the morning, I have something to discuss with you."

Fujioka left, and Misaki collapsed onto the couch, "It's a pain being an author."

"If you had asked me sooner, I could have told you," Usagi shrugged. "Well, it's fun, too. But you slowly turn into the new Usami Akihiko."

"Very funny," Misaki shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Gotta go get that book done."

With a sigh, he wandered up into his room, and sat down at the desk. Before telling Takahiro about him and Usagi, Misaki started to write a book about two girls with the same case as theirs. Everything was exactly the same, and as Usagi read it, he said it was portrayed perfectly. Fujioka was amazed by the idea and the half done novel as well.

 _"_ _Misaki-kun, this is going to be the greatest so far!"_

Misaki smiled. Fujioka said this every time he had written a book. Actually, Usagi and the woman were the ones to keep him going. If they weren't there, Misaki would have given up right at the start, right before telling Usagi.

Only the other half had to be done by next week. His eyes were sore, he was craving for sleep. He was still somewhat stressed by the last meeting with his brother, but that was the reason he started writing this book in the first place. He hoped that his brother would read it, and so he can communicate his thoughts and feelings through the story.

Takahiro didn't seem to hate them after they told him. He just seemed disappointed, sad, and angry. Why? Was he disappointed because Misaki didn't tell him sooner? Was he angry because Misaki ended up with a man – with Usagi himself? Was he sad because Misaki was in a gay relationship? So many unanswered questions and Misaki hoped that they would be answered soon – even if the answers are negative, he hated to be uninformed.

 _Nii-chan…_

He closed his eyes for a moment, then looked at the screen, and started typing. Just a few more chapters. It shouldn't be a problem for someone who had written three other books already.

 _Fan meeting after your fifth book!_

Misaki suddenly smiled. He just imagined Toudo and Kamijou's face if they found out he was an author. He even imagined Kamijou's words to be something like this: _"You can't hand in a proper essay yet you can write about dykes? Focus on the important things, Takahashi!"_ It was funny to imagine, he thought.

He typed, and three other pages were done. After thirty minutes, another four was ready. Another complete chapter. He sat back in the chair and sighed loudly. _Just a few more._

Before he could think about anything else, he had fallen asleep in the chair, his hair covered his eyes. He didn't wake up when Usagi came in and gently tucked him in bed. He was loud asleep, no stress, no books, no reality. Only his dreams.

* * *

The next day, Misaki walked into Marukawa like a zombie. He had a good night sleep, but it wasn't enough. He looked for the meeting room Fujioka mentioned, and waited for the woman. She came soon, and smiled at him.

"Good morning!" she greeted and opened the door.

"Good morning…" Misaki growled, and followed her into the meeting room. They sat down, and Fujioka pulled some papers out of her bag.

The meeting was nothing to worry about because to be honest, Misaki was somewhat worried. It was all about some future projects, how many books he's going to have to write, when and where would they hold fan meetings, or meetings with other editors. It got Misaki excited and nervous at the same time. Meeting other authors – great authors like Usagi! He didn't know what to say to someone like him, or how to talk to big icons. _Guess I'll just ask Usagi…_

When he left the meeting room, he bumped into someone.

"I'm sorr– Yanase-san?"

The editor smiled a little, "Hey, Takahashi! Long time no see!"

"Yeah," Misaki nodded, "Well, you know, I haven't been working with Ijuuin-sensei for a while."

"I know," Yanase sighed. "Same case here. Apparently, Shizuku and a few others are working with him right now."

Misaki frowned. Honestly, there were so many things to deal with that he had already forgotten about Ijuuin not asking for his help.

"Do you know why?"

Yanase only shrugged his shoulders with a grimace, "I went back to Yoshikawa-sensei for a while, so I'm good. But it sure bothers me."

They headed ahead on the long corridor. They weren't too many people as everyone was facing deadlines in every department. Only a few people walked past them, greeting them with a nod. They both headed to the lift, but before they could get in, the door opened and Ijuuin stepped out with a frown on his face.

"Wow, what a coincidence to see the both of you here at the same time!"

"Have a nice day," Yanase growled, and was about to walk away, but Ijuuin grabbed his arm.

"I wanna talk to you. You got a minute?"

"No."

"Oh, yeah, you do."

Misaki just stood there in total confusion. He felt awkward. It seemed that Yanase suddenly turned against Ijuuin or something.

"I said I have no time to talk. Do you underst–"

Before he could finish, Ijuuin – right in front of Misaki – pulled Yanase closer, grabbed him by his waist, and kissed him on his lips, sweetly and softly. Misaki's mouth was wide open as he just saw Ijuuin kissing someone in Marukawa's corridor.

"I didn't mean to do it right here and right now, but I had no other choice," the mangaka said after letting go of Yanase. Then he turned to Misaki. "I'm sorry you had to see this."

"No, it's– I– uh, just… I gotta go!"

He stepped into the lift and quickly pressed the button to the ground floor. As he arrived, he got off and ran out of the building. He just saw Ijuuin kissing Yanase.

 _Sensei just… did that!_

He ran and ran until he was out of breath. Then he stopped for a moment, and slowed down. He was shocked, but also happy. Yanase seemed truly disturbed about Ijuuin not working with him, and it seemed like he was in love with the mangaka, and the mangaka returned his feelings. Misaki smiled and walked back home.

"I'm back," he said, and Usagi slowly walked up to him.

"How was it?"

"Nothing serious," Misaki shook his head as he took of his shoes. "Just discussed some important meetings and projects."

"Gonna be tough," Usagi said, exhaling smoke.

"It's fine though. Anyway, I ran into Ijuuin-sensei today," Misaki said still smiling.

"And is that something to smile about?" the man asked, slowly becoming jealous, but then Misaki laughed, surprising him with this.

"It is. I was walking to the lift with Yanase-san, and he just got out, and then he just grabbed Yanase and kissed him."

Usagi lifted his eyebrows, stopping his hand halfway before putting the cigarette back into his mouth, "Huh, sounds like he found someone else."

Misaki nodded happily, "And I'm pretty sure Yanase-san loves him back." Then his smile slowly faded, and his eyes tore up.

"What's wrong?" Usagi hugged him to try and comfort him, but no success.

"Do- Do you think things are going to be okay with nii-chan?"

Usagi held Misaki tighter, "I'm sure everything's gonna turn out just fine."

The brunet smiled again, and turned around to hug Usagi back which he rarely did, "I hope so."

For the rest of the day, he was in his room writing. His new book was slowly getting done.

 _Just a few more chapters,_ he reminded himself. _It's going to be okay._

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Hey! Oh, another chapter in such a short time! I must be possessed...**

 **Just kidding, I'm glad I can be productive again. The cliffhanger in ch14 got me so hard that I had to sit down and write this chapter. Well, nothing from Takahiro so far, haha^^' Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Thank you for the reviews again :3 Also, I'm planning to add two more chapters, three is the maximum, and then this story is going to be over. And then God knows, maybe it's going to be longer than that. Haha xD Let's see!**

 **Thank you for reading! Leave a comment if you liked it or if you hated it, I'd like to hear from you guys ^^**

 ** _Ricchan_**


	16. Chapter 16

A month later, Misaki's new book was done. It wasn't too difficult to write it since everything in the book had happened to him in real life. The story started with a girl caught between her favourite singer and her lover. Misaki was going to create the singer a mangaka, but that would have been too obvious – Ijuuin might find out it was based on his actions.

Then the story went on. The girl had told his best friend (this character was based on Takahiro) about her relationship with her lover, and her best friend didn't talk to him for a month. But in the end, everything turned out well.

"Ah, I love this soooooo much!" Fujioka screamed as she slammed the papers on the coffee table. Usagi groaned as she did it.

"You do?" Misaki's face lit up a little.

He felt sad and lonely since the talk with his brother happened. Since then, Takahiro hadn't talked to Misaki or Usagi, no rings, nothing about him whatsoever. For Misaki, it felt like he had lost his brother. His beloved, supportive brother. But that can't be the case, right? Misaki wanted to think so, but reality was harsh.

"I'm sure your fans will love this, too," Fujioka continued with a huge grin on her face. She was passionate and energetic unlike Misaki – the brunet felt like he was dead inside.

"I'm glad you like it," he said with a sad smile. Fujioka didn't seem to notice it.

"I'll take it to the printer now," she said as she headed for the door. "Thank you for finishing this before the deadline, sensei!"

When she left, Usagi slowly walked up to Misaki, and gently ruffled his hair. Misaki was just standing at the door, glancing at the floor, deep in his thoughts. He was concerned and scared. What if Takahiro never calls him again? He wanted his brother, he wanted him to say something – scold him, say he's disappointed, anything but this. Anything but Misaki not knowing what's going on with him, what's going on in his mind.

"It's going to be okay," Usagi said as he stopped ruffling his hair.

"Wish he came around anytime soon," Misaki sighed. "I can't take his silence anymore."

"He's your brother, he just needs time," Usagi walked back into the living room and sat down. Misaki sat down across from him. "Think about it. What would you do if you found out the same about him? You would be mad, too, I'm sure."

Misaki imagined Takahiro telling him he's been dating a guy for three years, "Yeah, I'd be pretty mad if I was him."

"See?" Usagi lit up a cigarette. "If he had wanted to completely turn his back on you, he would have told you right after you told him we're together. I know him, just like you do, Misaki. He didn't leave you, he just needs time."

The brunet smiled a little, then stood up to sit right next to Usagi, "You might be right."

"I know I'm right."

Usagi leaned closer to kiss him, and Misaki didn't hesitate to kiss him back.

* * *

The next day, Misaki was called to work. As he arrived, Kirishima sent him to Yoshikawa Chiharu's place to help the mangaka out. First, Misaki thought the editor-in-chief of Japun wanted him to go to Ijuuin-sensei's, but it wasn't the case. Emerald department was in need of help.

Misaki was wondering what kind of person Yoshikawa-sensei might be – he imagined a shy and quiet young lady sitting at her desk, drawing manga, and being surrounded with editors and betas. When he arrived, he knocked, and a tall, brunet guy opened it. Misaki had already met him when he had to bring some documents to Emerald department. But damn, he forgot his name.

"Good morning! I'm Takahashi Misaki, Kirishima-san sent me," he said, a little scared. The guy looked strict and exhausted. But then he smiled, and Misaki calmed down.

"You save a life here, Takahashi-san," he opened the door and let him in. "I'm Hatori Yoshiyuki. Sensei is in that room," he pointed at a door, and Misaki moved towards it.

As he entered he saw at least five people sitting at a long round desk – mostly women. At a desk in the right corner, he recognised Yanase, who turned his gaze away when he noticed Misaki. At the desk on the left, a young man was sitting, groaning as he was drawing.

 _Is he…?_

"He's Yoshikawa-sensei," Hatori said as he saw Misaki's questioning and confused face. "Guys, this is Takahashi-san, he's gonna help us out today."

Everyone's face lit up a little as they heard Hatori. Misaki sat down next to a woman. They quickly explained what he had to do, then they went back to work.

It was a very long day, but Misaki somehow enjoyed it. The hard work, the thought that he could help them not to cross the deadline felt satisfying. The sky outside started to darken when they finally finished work. The manga was done, and Hatori ran to the printer with the finished piece. Most of the betas already left, the ones who stayed thanked him for the hard work. Misaki just smiled at them. When he was about to leave, the mangaka walked up to him.

"Takahashi, right?" he asked and bowed. "I'm Yoshino. Yoshino Chiaki. Thanks for the hard work today."

Misaki smiled, and bowed as well. "I'm happy to hear that I was any help."

Misaki's glance then wandered at Yanase. He was slowly packing his stuff, but never looked at him. Yoshino seemed to notice the brunet looking at the editor.

"Ah, he's pretty quiet," he said. "Doesn't talk much, but he's nice I swear."

Yoshino laughed nervously as Yanase threw a deathly glance at him. Misaki laughed as well. After he left and was walking down the streets, Yanase caught up to him.

"Oi, wait!"

Misaki turned around, "Oh, Yanase-san…"

"It was weird seeing you at Chiaki's place."

"Was it?"

Yanase shrugged, his expression was serious, "I'm sorry you had to see… _that_ … the last time we met."

Misaki suddenly remembered when Ijuuin just kissed Yanase in the corridor at Marukawa. He had so many things in mind that he had almost forgotten it already.

"N-No, it's fine, you don't have to apologise!" he waved with his hands nervously, his face gone slightly pink.

Yanase sighed irritably, "That stupid Ijuuin."

Before Misaki could say anything, a smile appeared on Yanase's face – a warm, loving smile. Seeing that, Misaki realised – the brunet might be really in love with that mangaka. Misaki smiled as well.

"I'm happy."

Yanase looked up at him, confused. "Huh?"

Misaki now laughed a little, "I'm happy. I'm happy he had found you, and you love him."

The editor threw an awkward grin, "Eh, right."

A few minutes later, they waved bye to each other, and walked on different routes. Misaki was walking slowly, enjoying the cool, night breeze. The sky was filled with shiny stars, and the moon was full. He looked up, closed his eyes, and made a wish to the stars. _Nii-chan… please… talk to me._

* * *

When Misaki finally reached the dark parking lot, his heart skipped a beat. He started to sweat nervously, his stomach clenched. Amongst the cars, he saw his brother's. Why would he be here? Why at this time of the day? How long has it been since he came? Questions running through his head, Misaki ran to the lift, and hit the button a little too hard. He couldn't wait to get out of the lift, and when he did, he ran towards Usagi's apartment. At the door, he stopped and tried to eavesdrop. He could hardly hear anything, but he was sure his brother and Usagi were talking. So he barged into the apartment, and ran without taking his shoes off.

"Nii-chan!"

Both Usagi and Takahiro looked up, seemingly scared as Misaki yelled. Takahiro was staring at him for a long second, then with teary eyes, he ran up to him, and squeezed him to his chest.

"Misaki!" he sobbed. "Misaki, I'm so, so sorry!"

Misaki sobbed as well, holding onto his brother as tight as he could. He was hugging him, the brother he thought would never come and talk to him again.

"Nii-chan…" the brunet whispered as he cried silently. "Nii-chan…"

Now, Takahiro gently pushed him away a little, facing him with tears on his face, "Let's sit down."

This time, Misaki sat down next to his brother, still clinging onto him like a child. Usagi was smiling at them softly.

"We talked a little while you were away," the silver-haired man said.

"Huh?" Misaki looked up, blinking. "About what?"

"About you and Usagi of course," Takahiro said, his face showed seriousness now. "Look, Misaki… I'm not mad at you and I definitely don't hate you."

The brunet now glanced up at his brother, still tears in his eyes. He didn't know what to say now, so he just let him talk.

"But finding out that my little brother is dating my best friend, and is in a gay relationship was something I would have never thought," Takahiro continued. Misaki was still confused as to what to think. He didn't want to think his brother denies their relationship. He hoped Takahiro would never do that. On the other hand, Usagi seemed calm and collected, so he probably heard these things already. "I have always thought that one day you would come home with a pretty girlfriend, introducing her to me. And sometime later, you would come again, and tell me you want to marry her. I have always thought you would have little kids like Mahiro, and live the life I do."

Misaki gulped. His stomach was still clenched, but didn't interrupt his brother.

"But you turned out to be different from what I thought you would turn out." Takahiro now smiled. "And Misaki, I want you to know that it's okay. I'm okay with this."

Misaki's face lit up, and his heart beat a little faster, "Huh? You're really okay with this?"

Takahiro nodded with a smile, "You're my little brother after all. All I always wanted is you living a happy life. And if you're happy then who am I to be in your way?"

Misaki's jaw shook slightly as he smiled up at his brother, crying again, but this time he was crying of pure happiness. Then he glanced at Usagi who was smiling at them with a cigarette in his mouth. Then all of a sudden, Misaki stood up and ran to Usagi, throwing himself onto him, hugging him tightly. He was giggling happily, and the man hugged him back with his eyes closed, his lips curled into a smile. They didn't see Takahiro smiling at them.

Then they parted away, and looked at Takahiro, and Misaki reached out to invite him to a hug. Takahiro chuckled, stood up, and hugged the two of them.

"I thought I lost my brother," Misaki whispered.

Takahiro looked at him with tears in his eyes, "No, Misaki, you will never lose me."

* * *

As Yanase finally got back, he dropped his bag pack on the door, took his shoes off, and wandered into the lit-up living room. Ijuuin was lying on the desk, a piece of paper under his head. The brunet smiled softly, and gently shook his shoulder.

"Oi, wake up!"

"I told you, Yanase," Ijuuin mumbled sleepily, "use formal language when talking to a mangaka."

"But I'm talking to you as an average, everyday person, not a famous mangaka," Yanase rolled his eyes, and took off his sweater. "Have you eaten?"

"I have."

"Then sleep in your bed."

Ijuuin stood up, and hugged Yanase from behind. "Only if you come with me."

Yanase's heart throbbed, a blush appeared on his face.

"Give me a minute."

He quickly took a shower, and when he returned, he found the man in the bed, sleeping. He smiled again. He carefully lifted up the blanket, and lay down next to him. For a moment, he stared at Ijuuin's peaceful face, then fell asleep.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Hey guys! Woo, it was nice to listen to 'Carry on my Wayward Son' by Kansas while writing the scene where Takahiro, Misaki and Usagi have the talk x3 I hope you liked this chapter, and the next chapter will probably be the last. :)**

 _ **Ricchan**_


	17. Chapter 17

**SEQUEL**

Misaki had trouble with his necktie as he tried to tie it again in the restroom. He had just finished going through his newest project with Fujioka, and he also met some bestseller authors. He was still excited about that, and his adrenalin level hadn't lowered since then. But that freaking necktie…

"Oi!"

Misaki almost jumped as he turned around to face Usagi.

"Jeez, stop scaring me like that!" he grunted, untying his necktie just to try to tie it again.

"Seems like someone needs some help."

"No way!"

Usagi stepped closer to him and ties his necktie.

"Here you go."

"I don't get how you do it, seriously. It's so difficult?"

"What's so difficult about tying a necktie?"

Misaki grunted again. He didn't answer though, just headed towards the exit. Usagi followed him without a word. As they left Marukawa, Usagi walked towards his car, but Misaki stopped him.

"Don't… Don't you wanna take a walk?"

The man smiled at him, and nodded.

"Why not? It's nice out here actually."

Months had passed since the talk between his brother and them. And since he found out that Yanase and Ijuuin were dating. Which meant that harmony was back in his life again.

They walked down the street, and Misaki stopped in front of a bookstore, seeing his latest book right in the window. He smiled, and Usagi ruffled his hair.

"Are you proud?"

"Me?" Misaki looked up at him. "I am. A little, maybe. No, actually, I'm very freaking proud of myself."

Usagi wrapped his arm around his shoulder.

"I'm proud of you, too."

Right next to the bookstore was a café, and Misaki was going to suggest sitting down for a coffee, but when Misaki looked through the café's window, he saw Ijuuin, sitting with a brunette guy, his face tilted in his palm, listening to him while he was pointing at the manuscript on the table.

Misaki smiled. Ijuuin's eyes were sparkling as he faced Yanase — the atmosphere around them was full of love.

"What are you looking at, Asakura-sensei?" Usagi was standing next to him, and Misaki turned towards him.

"Stop calling me that name in public!"

Usagi laughed cheerfully, then put his hand on the boy's head. "Why, though? I want them to know that the great Asakura Toshio, Marukawa's best Girls' Love novelist is my boyfriend."

 ** _The End_**

* * *

 **A/N: Hey, guys!**

 **I'm kind of sad, really. This story came to an end, and it's just a small sequel. But it was so close to me, even though I sometimes had troubles updating in time.**

 **Credits and a huge thanks to Shiranai Atsune for the great idea, as I stated in the first chapter, the story was a request. And I totally enjoyed writing it. :) So thank you.**

 **And also thank you for everyone who followed the story, read it, favourited and reviewed. ^^ *hugs you all***

 **See you in my future projects. :D**

 **Ricchan**


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